Those old mansions sitting empty on a hillside in the ritzy,
glitzy side of Los Angeles, the crumpled down homes where families once laughed
and played, and the strange behavior of people with too much money once fascinated
me to no end. Just imagine what it would be like to have enough money to buy
one of those homes and refurbish it. It is still a fascinating topic to me, but
for different reasons these days.
The fascination recently changed to amazement that there are
so many vacant homes that are falling apart for lack of care, yet a sea of
people call the streets their homes. I am not the first one to ask the question
and probably won’t be the last, but I have to ask anyway. Why are there so many
homeless people when there are so many vacant homes?
Major City Homeless Rate:
Detroit- 20,000 homeless people in 2013
Los Angeles- 57,737 homeless people in 2013
New York- Approximately 64,000 people homeless in 2013
Baltimore- 2638 people homeless in 2013
Nashville- 3,000 to 4,000 people homeless in 2013
Houston- 8,768 people homeless as of 2012
Major City Abandoned Homes Rate:
Detroit- An estimated 78,000 homes were left abandoned and
decaying in 2013
Los Angeles- No information currently available
New York- No solid number available, but it is reported
there are more than enough abandoned homes that it would completely eradicate
homelessness in the city.
Baltimore- More than 16,000 homes were left abandoned and
decaying as of 2011
Nashville- No information currently available
Houston- Hundreds of homes are reported abandoned and
decaying in 2014, but a solid number is not available.
Then there are the “what a waste” mansions that seem to
spring up all over the ritzy sides of Los Angeles. Here are a few and oh the
things that could be done with these buildings, if the rich neighbors didn’t
put up such a fuss about social barriers.
Before and after photo of bedroom in abandoned Minnelli Mansion
Minnelli Mansion- Liza Minnelli’s father died and his widow
was living in the house. Liza wanted to sell the house but the step-mother didn’t
want to move. A compromise was finally reached after a lot of hoo-ha and the
step-mother stayed until she died. The house was sold prior to her death, but
the new owners have not moved to repair the property or to move in.
Long ago emptied swimming pool at the abandoned Nicolosi Estate
Nicolosi Estate- A mansion that housed people such as Johnny
Weissmuller, John Phillips, Mackenzie Phillips, and Mick Jagger now sits empty
and rotting on one of the nicest streets in Bel Air. It is unclear why the
house has not been refurbished, though there was a fire there some time back.
It is also unclear why it has not been sold. It has been deemed a historic
property and cannot be torn down. So, what happens now? Apparently nothing
because it continues to deteriorate as we speak.
Los Feliz House abandoned since 1959
Perelson Home in Los Feliz- The strangest of strange
stories. Perelson hits his daughter in the head with a hammer and the daughter
runs to a neighbor’s house. Meantime, Perelson bashes his wife in the head with
a hammer, killing her and then kills himself. Two younger children remained
safe. The house was auctioned off the following year with all the family’s
belongings inside. The couple who purchased the house left it sitting on the
hillside and only used it for storage. When they died, their son took ownership
and it remains in the same unkempt condition, although he does feed the cats
every now and again. The neighbors have taken care of what they could over the
years. The house is not for sale.
Runyon Canyon Mansion remains unfinished
Runyon Canyon Park Mansion- There’s nothing quite like a
huge mansion where construction stops dead in the middle. That’s what happened
with this mansion and it doesn’t look like anyone wants to bother with
completion. It’s in a good location with fantastic views of the city. It has
been the victim of gang related activity and many rumors have spread that the
land is haunted. Wouldn’t everyone like to be so rich that they could just begin
to build properties and then leave them abandoned long before it is completed?
Are the abandoned properties a good solution for the homeless?
That is possible. There are plenty of solutions to the abandoned buildings
including razing them and selling the property and putting the money back into
the tax coffers, selling for a dollar to people who can afford to refurbish
them, and razing them and leaving the empty lot empty. There are so many
possibilities and yet little seems to ultimately be done about it. Other
solutions, by some include squatting or refurbishing to house homeless people.
Is it a good idea to squat? It is probably not a good
recommendation, though many people attempt to do it. The biggest problem with
that is that someone does own the property and they can ignore it if they
choose to. Squatting means that you have to break into the home or building and
that is against the law, in case you haven’t noticed. In short, you could end
up in jail for it.
These two problems could easily be solved, but it would take
a lot of effort from the communities and from people in general. Each person
would have to start caring about others enough to say that they don’t want
anyone living on the street no matter what the circumstance is. The homeless
would have to take a stand on behalf of themselves and be willing to accept
responsibility in order to make it work. Business people would have to be
willing to hire people who have found themselves in a homeless situation so
that those people would have hope of making a better life for themselves.
It doesn’t call for a ‘spread the wealth’ mentality. People
who earn their money have the right to spend it in any way they choose and they
are not obligated to help anyone with anything, ever. Maybe that’s why people
with so much money they can’t possibly spend it all have gotten so rich to
start with. Who knows? I choose to believe that most people with a lot of money
are willing to help others in one fashion or another and it is the few who
simply toss money out the window because they can.
And so this ends my day of homeless blogs.
