Category: Blog
Originally over 7 square miles of trees and dirt roads, Lomita California has survived natural disasters, boundary disputes, world wars, civil wars, some oil booms, and more. On top of all the disputes and wars, Lomita found that it was slowly being gobbled up by the neighboring cities, all anxious to annex everything until the little community literally was no more. After many attempts to incorporate as a city, Lomita finally made it happen in 1964 and that was to stop the booming development and continuing annexation attempts. Now only 1.87 miles square Lomita began to start controlling its own future by taking over the children's schooling and the local water district. What started out as a rural quiet community, with only a simple ranch house and some out buildings and barns on the old Narbonne property, a few dirt roads, a couple of fruit orchards and a narrow gauge electric railroad that stopped on Western Avenue, Lomita has grown into a modern city with warm and welcoming residents and still retains it's quiet rural atmosphere and standard of living. Read More
Watch this beautiful Video of the South Bay and you will understand why sop many reside here. Housing sales are starting to go up, building starts are up, condo and townhome sales are setting new records in some areas. And we are seeing an upswing in South Bay real estate. Mortgage rates are still at an all time low. Lenders say they have money to lend. Lenders have tightened up their processing and underwriter guidelines, which is slowing down overall processing and funding times. Experts say that if there is no unforeseen crisis in the near future the trend should continue with gradual increase in sales. Foreclosures and lack of inventory is affecting many markets across the country at the present time, and that should start improving gradually. One factor that is helping to fuel the gains is heavy buying by investors, many paying cash for hot properties. Flipping houses is again being advertised heavily which causes some concerns. Many experts feel that “flipping” along with other factors was a major cause of some of the real estate problems of recent years. The pace of building is picking up as well, with housing starts in some states like Washington, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas and South Carolina are likely to near the levels last seen in the 2000-2003 period, by the end of this year. Construction industry experts are predicting a possible 17-20% increase in new housing starts. General increases in building permit applications are already being seen in some “hot market” areas. So what’s the down side of all of this? The unknown possible tax hikes coming in January and some other possible worsening economic factors coming out of Europe and Asia that could affect more than just the real estate industry. Read More
Door Stack-Drying Trick We wanted to paint all 20 doors in the house, but where do you put them while they're wet? By screwing short 2x4 blocks to the ends, we were able to paint both sides of each door and then stack them neatly while they dried. Just make sure to keep the same spacing between every pair of blocks. New Path From Old Stone I made a brand-new-looking flagstone pathway to my gazebo just by flipping over the weathered stones that were there and washing them off. The tricky part was fitting the shapes back together, but with a little finessing I managed it. Of Tee Bolts and Toilet Bowls When installing a toilet bowl, mark a line on the threaded ends of the tee bolts to show the orientation of the tees on the bolts' other end, which hold the bowl to the flange on the floor. Without that mark as a guide, you could turn the bolt 90 degrees as you tighten it and pull it out of the flange, making a mess of the wax ring. Trust me: I learned this one the hard way. Hand Protection I reuse those long, narrow plastic bags that newspapers are delivered in as protective gloves and sleeves when spray painting and pulling weeds. They're really good for uprooting and containing poison ivy and other stuff you shouldn't touch with bare hands; just remove the bags by pulling them inside out. Read More
This December another South Bay landmark will go the way of Marineland, Torrance and Vermont Dirve Ins and the infamous Ascot Raceway. El Camino's Murdock Stadium is scheduled to be demolished. This local stadium opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1949. The new facility with a price tag of $37.2 mil will be completed by 2014. The project is paid for by your school bond money. Read More
Hawthorne has been a forward looking community, heavily involved in the Defense and Aerospace business since way before World War II and continues to get headlines with it’s newest Aerospace success story. Space-X, a fairly new company located in Hawthorne is destined to become even better known if it keeps... Read More
Holly Glen is a somewhat hidden jewel within the city of Hawthorne. Holly Glen is located east of Aviation Blvd. and north of Rosecrans. It has it's own school district (Wiseburn School District) and is almost a little town all to itself. There are some beautiful single family homes here, many have been remodeled and renovated in recent years. Property here is highly sought after and few of the original single family homes are ever for sale. The beautiful new Fusion Town Homes near 149th street, east of Aviation, has several plans available and are formidably priced. The location is just minutes away from the famous South Bay beaches, great shopping, entertainment, employment centers and close to all freeways. Read More
Here are some surprising ways to save energy around your South Bay home: 1 If you place lamps in the corners of your rooms, the walls help to reflect light out into the room. 2 Use a laptop computer instead of a desktop. A laptop uses 1/3 less energy. 3 Dont switch to a plasma flat screen it uses much more energy than an LCD. 4 Put a blanket on your water heater and turn down the temperature a little. A water heater blanket can save anywhere from 4% to almost 10% on the average water heating bill. 5 Using an electric stove? Turn off the burner before your finished cooking as the burner stays hot for awhile after you shut it off. 6 Spin laundry more. Let your washer spin the water out of the laundry, even if you have to spin it twice, it will save energy use in the dryer. Some new washers can cut energy in half by eliminating the time required for the dryer to run. 7 Shut off your refrigerators ice maker and use an ice tray or two. A refrigerator ice maker increases your energy consumption up to 20%. When you use ice trays, there is no increase in energy use or costs. 8 Use your dishwasher, it uses 1/3 of the hot water that you would use if you washed your dishes by hand. Read More
TREE SAFETY Does the severe weather of the past several years have you looking up at your trees in fear? It's an understandable concern. A big storm could destroy the plants' majesty in a flash -- and send a quarter-ton branch crashing down onto your roof. Still, before you preemptively chip a favorite tree into mulch, consider this: It may be contributing 8% to 10% to your home's value, according to Scott Cullen of the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers. Here's how to keep your leafy assets from becoming a liability. Schedule regular upkeep Have your trees inspected every five years or so -- a free service offered by tree-care companies. An arborist will look for branches that are weak or hanging within 10 feet of a building, and send workers to remove them. If necessary, they'll also buttress the tree against high winds by cabling limbs together. All this work costs about $200 to $400 a tree and is typically needed only once a decade. Related: Tips on homeowners insurance In many cases the tree will more than cover the cost of its maintenance over a few years; a big shade tree will knock nearly $70 off annual air conditioning bills, says David Nowak of the U.S. Forest Service, and a large evergreen that blocks winter winds will reduce heating costs by around $60 a year. Bonus: Trees also provide protection from road noise and basement flooding. Get removal right When a tree becomes diseased or dangerously overgrown given its proximity to a house, your arborist will recommend taking it down. Removing a substantial tree could cost $2,000 to $5,000, depending on its size and whether it is accessible by truck or requires climbing -- and what's underneath that the crew must protect. Related: 4 ways to save on landscaping You can have the stump ground down to just below grass or mulch height for $50 to $200 more. Or carve a trough in the top, drill some drainage holes, and use it as a planter. Invest in new growth To replace an unsafe tree or propagate a bare lot, look for varieties that grow quickly and have compact spreads to minimize pruning headaches, says Charlotte, N.C., landscape architect J'Nell Bryson. A local nursery can suggest good options and plant eight-footers for $250 to $500 each. In about a decade they could add tens of thousands to your property value, probably the best investment return you'll ever make. Read More
Emotions were running wild when, after traveling almost 125 million miles in space, with 25 completed missions, our now retired shuttle 'Endeavour' touched down at LAX for the very last time the last week of September. Endeavour landed at LAX just before 1 p.m. on top of the massive Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Before touching down at LAX, thousands of people gathered around Southern California to witness Endeavour as it flew atop the 747 at low altitude over California's most famous places and landmarks. On October 12th, Endeavor will be towed up to the California Science Center, its final home. The shuttle is expected to go on public display on Oct. 30th. Read More
After several successful launches and space missions, Space-X of Hawthorne seems to be off to a 'roaring' start. In the tradition of many aerospace giants that came before it, Space-X is making a name for itself throughout the world. It's fitting that this "cutting edge" assembly of aerospace engineers and 21st century space innovators, are working in the city of Hawthorne where so many of the aviation and aerospace giants of the past made their huge mark on history. Big corporations and little companies alike, during good times and bad, worked together to win wars, the race to the moon and the cold war. Companies like Northrop, American Aviation, Lockheed, AirResearch, Xerox and Ratheon helped make the South Bay what it is today giving us all a great standard of living and a fantastic lifestyle like nowhere else. There is no doubt about it, the South Bay is a great place to live, to work and to play. Read More