I first moved into the Evanston in January of 1999 and it was awesome. An inexpensive centrally located studio apartment in Mid Wilshire for $500 per month. The place had great charm and character which initally allowed me to overlook the single (ocassionally broken elevator)the ocassional roach and the fact that I had to pay $50 per month to park my car in a lot outside the grounds. The tenants were a mix of people which also made living there attractive. There were elderly people who had lived there for decades as well as young actors and others who needed that central, quick place to reside. I was a professional photographer and the building was great to shoot in and around. The manager even allowed me to do so without a problem. I was even allowed to shoot on the roof. Major drawbacks in the building were that they would constantly turn off the water for hours at a time WITHOUT prior notice to the tenants. Not only that but the single elevator was now broken 30% of the time. Sometimes this happened in scortching upper 90 degree heat which was unacceptable in an unairconditioned building. If the broken elevator did not make my climb with bags of groceries to the 5th floor easy, imagine the sheer angst for the elderly depended on it to reach the higher floors.

On one ocassion, there was a stench in the hallway for what seemed like weeks. The odor was absolutely intollerable. After weeks of smelling this odor we asked management to check for the source. As it turned out, an elderly tenant was found dead in his apartment after weeks of decay.

I lived only four doors away.

The first and second year saw many changes in the building. The sweet young manager who ran the building was replaced with someone from Central Europe who was not nearly as kind as she. She began to systematically post herself in the front hall and harass my guest who came to see me,one by one. Her attitude was outrageous. She singlehandedly offended my guests to the point where I just could no longer tollerate living under the same roof as she. Management did whatever they could to piss off enough tenants to have them move so that they could gain higher rents for the now changing price points in the community. I eventually had moved from my studio to a one bedroom that they could have received $1000-$1200 for but I was renting for $800 rent controlled.

In short the building had tremendous potential with hardwood floors covered by industrial carpeting, decent sized rooms and an antique feel. If only the owners would invest in not only the beauty of the building, but its internal operations including, design, heating, air condition, elevator system (s) security, and most importantly (the people aspect of the building) THE MANAGEMENT.

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