Long Beach's Past: The “Cougar” Countess and Long Beach’s Blackstone ...

Long Beach's Past: The “Cougar” Countess and Long Beach’s Blackstone ...: 

Postcard Long Beach History Collection

Here is the fascinating history of the Blackstone in downtown Long Beach, written by my friend Claudine Burnett, formerly a librarian for the Long Beach Public Library system.  The Blackstone, located at 330. W. Ocean Blvd., was at one time a hotel and is now an apartment building which was granted landmark status.

Built by a woman who had inherited wealth from her first husband, she was one of the many people who came to Long Beach in earlier decades and left her mark on local architecture.

 Excerpt: 

"What did this new property Kate now owned look like inside? 

 "The Blackstone had 70 rooms on the second and third floors and 75 apartments on the other floors. Rooms and apartments were finished either in mahogany or ivory.  On the second floor there was a ballroom (dancing was held there every Saturday afternoon and evening), billiard and card rooms. Each of the 8 floors had a sun parlor. Furnishings included floor lamps and table shades and over-stuffed furniture.   In the basement there was a garage for 75 automobiles, shower and dressing rooms for the use of guests returning from the beach. It was quite a luxury to be able to step from one’s car, catch an elevator and go directly to one’s apartment or hotel room. Single apartments rented from $85 to $150 ($1200-$2,120) per month; double apartments $165-$225 ($2330-$3,180) per month; a room started at $2.00 ($28.30) a day.  It opened for business on July 1, 1922."

 

Long Beach's Past: The “Cougar” Countess and Long Beach’s Blackstone ...: Postcard Long Beach History Collection

Making Improvements to Your Property: Where Should You Stop?

There are two types of property owners: homeowners who will move in and live in the property, and investors who never plan on living in the property.


The following points are mostly for investors who are "rehabbers", but owner occupants might find some helpful points here as well in order to gain perspective on a project.


Don't overimprove a property. It's a common mistake to think that all the money put into a property will be added to the original buying price so that the owner will obtain a 100% return on the brand new kitchen, brand new bathroom, or brand new hardwood flooring. Watch out for the following problems if you bought a property to fix and sell:

• Falling in love with your property.
• Remodeling it as if it's the home you've always dreamed about.
• Trying to make it a model home.
• Making upgrades or improvements to show how well you do them.
• Justifying an improvement because it adds to curb appeal (non-monetary return).
• Applying the same formula to every property.

Keep in mind that a buyer doesn't care how much you spent. There is a difference between doing a good rehabilitation and fixing up the house vs. injecting your personal living standards into your choices. Buyers often understand the difference, and even though they may like all the expensive hardware that came from the historic replica source, they may not see it as adding to the value of the property. You must know the needs of the your target buyer. Avoid making your project what you would buy for yourself--you must make it serve the needs of your target buyers.

You must get to know your local (very local) market. Learn to look at your project the way an appraiser does: no more than one mile out from your property, and less than that if it's a different type of neighborhood. Learn what people in the area of your property are really looking for: what do they identify with. They buy in a certain area for a reason, so find out what they admire about their location, the style of homes in the area and why they want a 1970's house, a 1950's house or a 1920's house--there are huge differences in those groups. There were major sociological changes in the generations that served those houses, so taking a 1920's house, ripping out a formal dining room wall and adding a breakfast bar is often viewed as a major flaw by buyers who prize that era of housing. Putting in the same formula kitchen and bathroom re-do in an older area built up over time which contains diverse historic architectural styles could be the wrong decision. Buyers who like older homes want precisely that--a rehabber is probably going to serve the local market far better with modern improvements that blend with the era of the particular custom home, not the one-size-fits-all contractor approach. If you're a contractor, you will need to expand your perception of what it takes to market and sell a home.

For homeowners, take time to think out your ideas, consult with an architect if necessary. Do they work well with the original design and purpose of your particular home?. Mistakes I've seen lately include:

• Enlarging a bathroom in an original 1940's house to include the latest jacuzzi bath, window styles, 1920's(?) floor tile, and hardwood cabinetry which does not match the rest of the house, all by taking a closet of the neighboring bedroom. This now changes the number of bedrooms the house has, potentially lowering its value for many buyers.
• Converting a kitchen pantry into a second bathroom which opens directly into the kitchen. Bad floor plan.
• Removing original doorways in order to obtain more kitchen space so that the original circular traffic flow of the home is now obstructed.
• The aforementioned breakfast bars added by losing a dining room or kitchen wall.

Consult with sources about calculating the return on improvements, including cost vs value reports in Remodel Magazine. In the end, it's important to find out what original features of a property are desired by the local market, whether you're a homeowner or a rehabber, because those may be what brings the buyer when the property is on the market next time.

Historic Renovation and Property Tax Benefits

The Mills Act was enacted in California in the 1970's, but is now much more widely known due to its 40-60% reduction in property taxes for qualified properties.

Effective March 7, 1973, Chapter 1442 of the Statutes of 1972 (also known as the Mills Act) allows an owner of qualified historical property to enter into a preservation contract with local government, which establishes its own criteria and determines how many contracts they will allow. When property is placed under such a contract, the owner agrees to restore the property if necessary, maintain its historic character, and use it in a manner compatible with its historic characteristics. the authority to enter into contracts, which are for 10 years at a time and stay with the property when transferred, with owners of qualified historic properties who actively participate in the restoration and maintenance of their historic properties while receiving property tax relief.

"A qualified historical property is privately-owned property that is not exempt from property taxation and that also meets either of the following criteria:

• The property is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, or is located within a registered historic district; or

• The property is listed in any official state, county, city, or city and county official register of historical or architecturally significant sites, places or landmarks, including the California Register of Historical Resources, California Historical Landmarks, State Points of Historical Interest, local landmarks, and local survey listings of historical properties."

Long Beach is one of the cities which participates in this program, here is a contact list for all California cities: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/1074/files/mills%20act%20contacts.pdf

For more information or a map of local historic districts, please contact me at 562-896-2609.

Long Beach long beach real estate 'Voice this!

A Note for the 4th of July

It's only fitting to check in at the site for Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, not only because he was a President, but also his final day is recorded on a July 4 (but back in the 1800s).

Tomorrow, 76 people from 36 counties will become United States citizens in a ceremony at Monticello. These ceremonies for Monticello started in 1963, are presided over by a local judge and are accompanied by patriotic music by the Charlottesville Municipal Band.

If they haven't bought their new U.S. home yet, we hope they will soon. Many Americans don't realize that the United States is one of the very few countries where a buyer can obtain a 30-year mortgage without discrimination towards age, marital status, race, or gender discrimination, with zero down if need be. The variety of loan options available in this country does not exist in many countries where 20% down is still the standard.

Long Beach

Cooper Arms: Co-op to Condo

Originally conceived in 1922 as the most luxurious co-operative apartment building in Long Beach, it was rival to the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and the Huntington and Maryland Hotels in Pasadena. The construction of the Cooper Arms reflected the building boom after World War I and the discovery of oil in the region.

The Cooper Arms was the first tasteful result of that building boom when it opened in March, 1924 as the city’s first residential high rise, catering to elegant resort living. The investors behind the building were a virtual “Who’s Who” of Long Beach. William Frist, owner and editor of the Long Beach Press, Dr. W. Harriman Jones, prominent surgeon and of course, Larkin Y. Cooper. Cooper owned a great amount of property in Long Beach, concentrating on property on Ocean Boulevard. He owned the property where the Cooper Arms was built.

The architects of the Cooper Arms were Alexander Curlett and Claude Beelman prominent architects of the day who also designed the Farmers and Merchants Bank building at Pine Avenue and 3rd Street in Long Beach and the Security Bank building at Pine Avenue and 1st Street in Long Beach. Claude Beelman later became a significant architect of buildings on the “Miracle Mile” of Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. The Cooper Arms was built by the Scofield Construction Company, also the builders of the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The Cooper Arms is designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style with elegant architectural and decorative features on both the interior and exterior. The building is a twelve story, steel frame reinforced concrete structure with exterior walls of brick finished in smooth stucco. The ground floor is comprised of both public and private space. Commercial uses are adjacent to an arcade which accesses the Ocean Boulevard frontage.

The Linden Avenue entrance accesses a Spanish loggia which exits to a large garden on one side and a large public space on the opposite side, known as the “Grand Salon”, designed as a prominent gathering place for the elegant resort residents of the 1920’s. The Grand Salon has an eclectic decorative composition typical of the 1920’s era. Design elements include Egyptian-derived lotus, swags and medallions inscribed with urns and profiles. The large public space also displays a formal marble front Louis XVI fireplace.

The 12th floor solarium occupies a major portion of the top floor. It was designed to function as a ballroom, meeting room, banquet room and all-purpose informal entertainment center. The room has a domed ceiling with original lotus and bud molding. French doors open onto wrought iron balconies on the north, west and south sides of the room with commanding views of both ocean and city. The original hardwood floors, carefully installed at the time of construction of the building to absorb noise and provide correct resilience for dancing, are still in place and in good condition. Floors 2 through 12 comprise the 159 residential units, once owned as cooperative apartments, today are condominiums.

The Cooper Arms is located in the heart of downtown, and within walking distance to the beach, restaurants, theatres, exclusive night clubs, and the East Village Arts District. This building offers community laundry and historic meeting areas.

Units vary in features: some have a Murphy bed built-in the living room which often have high ceilings, walk-in closets with an eating area in the kitchen; a balcony with views of the ocean, downtown marina, and the mountains; HOA dues may be as low as $118 per month which includes water, sewer, and heat, and vary in size according to whether they are studio, 1 or 2 bedroom.
Long Beach

Long Beach Ebell: Gone to Lofts, Every One

Long Beach Heritage Museum photo
This conversion took place with the theatre portion of the Ebell Club on 3rd Street. It's namesake in Los Angeles is regarded as very important culturally and architecturally. Fortunately, the original theatre part of the building in Long Beach is now preserved in another form, but unfortunately, its reason for being declined with the condition of the building over time. Taking the name from a gentleman in the late 1800's who wished to help women of the era maintain a center of culture important to them, these "clubs" attracted many of the wives of men of local stature and some measure of wealth as their original members, starting a tradition of contribution that carried on for many decades. In Long Beach, this is one of many loft conversions from older buildings which in the past would have disappeared. All the original converted units are now sold out and interested buyers must wait for resales. Close to downtown and on a major bus line, it's also in a residential neighborhood and about 3 blocks from the ocean. What more can you ask for in a loft?
Long Beach

Happy President's Day

I think George Washington hasn't gotten a fair shake in the more commonly known portraits of him. One of his problems was supposedly the various sets of false teeth he had to use, and of course the oil portrait styles of the time. This life mask is a much more likely representation of his normal facial appearance.

He inherited his brother's estate at Mount Vernon in 1752 at the age of 20. Today's version of that estate is not what George Washington would have been managing in the 1700's--a very different world which grew from the original 500 acres to 8,000 acres divided into 5 farms, designed to be a self-contained, self-producing community with a workforce of slaves who later were emancipated in his will. While other people did the heavy lifting, George did all and more that management of his estate required:

He worked constantly to improve and expand the mansion house and its surrounding plantation. He established himself as an innovative farmer, who switched from tobacco to wheat as his main cash crop in the 1760's. In an effort to improve his farming operation, he diligently experimented with new crops, fertilizers, crop rotation, tools, and livestock breeding. He also expanded the work of the plantation to include flour milling and commercial fishing in an effort to make Mount Vernon a more profitable estate. By the time of his death in 1799, he had expanded the plantation from 2,000 to 8,000 acres consisting of five farms, with more than 3,000 acres under cultivation. Biography

Washington, and others of his time, was not given the type of academic education we think of as necessary today, but his education came more in the form of private tutoring. People of his time were trained in social behavior as well, including standards of behavior which George copied when he was very young, The Rules of Civility, standards which are just as applicable to people today and which should be required reading in my opinion.



George Washington, Presidents

Mills Act Property Tax Abatement Program

For property owners living within Long Beach historic districts, the Mills Act may work for them to reduce their property taxes: The State describes it as: "A formal agreement, generally known as a Mills Act or Historical Property Contract, is executed between the local government and the property owner for a minimum ten-year term. Contracts are automatically renewed each year and are transferred to new owners when the property is sold. Property owners agree to restore, maintain, and protect the property in accordance with specific historic preservation standards and conditions identified in the contract. Periodic inspections by city or county officials ensure proper maintenance of the property. Local authorities may impose penalties for breach of contract or failure to protect the historic property. The contract is binding to all owners during the contract period."
This process includes bringing it before City Council for approval. Find historic districts under "community information" here.