James Engel KW Beverly Hills

We are sponsoring the Mar Vista region of Los Angeles! Come and check out our photos and community details.

Called "the ‘burbs with a twist" by Not For Tourists Guide to Los Angeles, Mar Vista is a quiet little neighborhood of high priced homes. Located between Venice / Marina Del Rey and Culver City, it's centrally located and close enough to the coast to get ocean breezes. It's a small, quaint, down to earth community with its own variety of restaurants, coffee shops and entertainment. It boasts a large quantity of schools for such a small community and is bordered by the 405 and 90 freeways.

For dining, Mar Vista has a variety of affordable restaurants including Aunt Kizzy's Back Porch for Southern comfort food, Sakura for Sushi, Fioretto Trattoria for Italian, Outdoor grill for outdoor BBQ and Paco's Taco's for Tex-Mex. Other entertainment includes a bowling alley, United Artists movie theater, Mitsuwa Marketplace shopping and Good Hurt, a medical themed beer bar where you get served by a vinyl clad nurse. Mar Vista proves to be a unique upscale neighborhood perfect for raising a family.

We are sponsoring the Hancock Park region of Los Angeles! Come and check out our photos and community details.

Hancock Park owes its name to developer-philanthropist G. Allan Hancock. Hancock was born and raised in a house on what is now part of the La Brea Tar Pits. He sub-divided the property in the 1920's into upscale beautiful lots, all of which are set back away from the road. Hancock Park boundaries are Rossmore to Highland Avenues; Melrose Ave. to Wilshire Blvd. Respectively, its boundaries are Rossmore Avenue to the East, Melrose Avenue to the North, Highland Avenue to the West, and Wilshire Boulevard to the South. There are approximately 1200 homes.

Hancock Park was home to Hollywood's elite. Some of the early families included; Doheny, Chandler, Huntington, Van Nuys, Crocker, Banning, Newmark, Van de Kamp and Duque. More recent celebrities include Kathy Bates and Nat King Cole. This is also home of the Wilshire Country Club, 105 acres of land which was leased with an option to buy from Hancock around 1920. This has long been a very affluent and high end region of Los Angeles hosting some of the most impressive mansions in the area.

About 1 mile west of the Hancock Park neighborhood is the actual park of Hancock Park. This is also adjacent to the LA County Museum of Art, La Brea Tar Pits, George C Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, Petersen Automotive Museum, A+D Architecture and Design Museum and the Craft & Folk Art Museum. This beautiful neighborhood is sure to bring tranquil days and peaceful nights.

We are sponsoring the Farmer Market region of Los Angeles! Come and check out our photos and community details.

The Farmers Market is one of the most historical and vibrant areas of Los Angeles. The Farmer Market has early roots, opening in 1934 as a dirt lot where local farmers could sell their produce out of the back of their trucks. The Farmers Market is located at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax which is adjacent to The Grove, a trendy shopping center emphasizing high end specialty stores. The Grove is well known for its full service restaurants and family friendly shopping. Farmer Market is also just down the street from The Beverly Center, a large, upscale, premier shopping destination. The Beverly Center is an eclectic mix of designer stores, such as D&G, Dior and Ben Sherman, as well as more affordable shops such as Forever 21 and Steve Madden.

If it's Art you're looking for Farmers market is close to The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, La Brea Tar Pits, as well as The Museum of Contemporary Art Pacific Design Center.

Farmers Market is also drenched in nightclubs, bars and restaurants. This West Hollywood region boasts establishments such as The Abbey, House of Blues, Key Club, Privilege, The Skybar, Viper Room and Whiskey A Go Go, among many others. Restaurants found in this area include Buddha's Belly, Café Vegan, Farm of Beverly Hills, Pinks Famous Chili Dogs, Swingers, Toast and Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill, among many others. The area is rich in all kinds of shopping, entertainment and dining; there certainly is something for everyone!

I feel like the issue of Robb Report, or Fly fishing has landed inmy mailbox every monday morning, as I walk into the office and I pick up the MLS Open House guide for Los Angeles. The official guide of www.themls.com our agent/broker owned multiple listing system in Los Angeles. All the beautiful houses, the architectural's , the mansions, the ginormous mansions that have mansions for guest houses and all the condos, townhomes and lofts in between, it is exciting to see what on the market and who has got the listings of the week nailed.

This week the cover is graced by an architectural Bel Air house www.BelAirArchitecturalVilla.com is its website located at 1852 Bel Air Road, you should see the pictures of this house, amazing attention to detail, a heavenly outdoor area with pool and beautiful layout. It is listed by CB Preview agents Vangelis Korasidis and Jade Mills. They have a great product, hope they find a great buyer for it.

Since we are on Bel Air properties another more traditional beauty 1321 Linda Flora Dr, www.1321lindalflora.com is listed at 4,495,000 and seems to have beautiful views and a traditional look and being built in 2003 stands as one of the newer products of the area.

As usual if you wish to run any market research on any Los Angeles listings please click my LA Market Snapshot button

Wish all of us out there an awesome week with a lot of offers and escrows closing.

Mar Vista has 2 products I found pretty fascinating.

First is a property ( I am biased about this one) my partner has been involved in from start to finish, a contemporary property located at 3457 Moore St. It is an amazing looking piece of art. Its a steel, concrete and glass masterpiece. The kitchen , the floors, the terrazo poured tile stairs, every aspect of the house is just a pleasure to explore. It is open this weekend again on Sunday from 2-5 by one of our beloved agents Amanda. It should find its owner soon, someone who will appreciate it like a sculpture. You can see more information on this at www.ebinvestment.com

Second end of the spectrum for all Mar Vista lovers, is the condos located at 11733-4 Avon Way, the condos are priced pretty well. It is a Nourmand & Associates listing by Nicole Contreras. Lovely agent and good price for Palms -Mar Vista. This little city is the best kept secret kind a like the early culver city days. I would encourage anyone shopping in its surroundings to take a look at this area. I think you can find the listing details on www.nourmand.com

Happy hunting to all of our homebuyers and agents.