The management has been doing a lot lately to spruce up the place - building a jaccuzzi, retiling the lobby and office, adding video surveilance, repairing the elevators, and just this week redoing the laundry room.

That said, all of the repairs are being worked into the rent-controlled rents as aggressively as possible. You can't blame them for the practice, but it's created some serious rent hikes, with little actual improvement to the quality of life here. The jaccuzzi is rarely used, which is a good thing because the people's voices resonate throughout the back side of the building. I've never seen anyone use the pool, and although it's "heated" it's not warm enough to enjoy. The weight room is absolutely disgusting and impractical. The "new" elevators on which they spent many thousands of dollars are finally functioning, but have the same old interiors, which are gross. The garage is gated, but cars have been broken into, and every time there's any maintenance going on, one of the gates is left open all day long for days at a time. There are also pipes that run through the ceiling of the upper garage level which frequently leak onto the cars. Recently one of my neighbors has started smoking pot some evenings and it comes right through my walls or floors, I can't quite tell, but it's pretty strong.

The manager is quirky, but actually nice and friendly (especially to the other ladies with dogs in the building). She accepts packages and leaves a note on the mailbox for you, and she does try to get things resolved as much as she can. Several people have been evicted over the last year for being noisy/nasty/etc. The tenants are mostly late 20-somethings of all types (many early career film / TV people), and are largely polite.

The neighborhood ("Franklin Village") is great. There's the strip on the corner - Bourgeois Pig, Birds, Tayo, Prizzi's, and La Poubelle all have decent food and outdoor seating (if you don't mind some road fumes and staring at the Celebrity Scientology Center), there's also a new raw food bar. For better and worse, the UCB Theatre has made the entire block much more popular for people from outside the neighborhood. The Mayfair (supermarket) a block away is convenient, though priced more for the folks that live up the hill than for us here at the bottom. I love walking to cafes and restaurants, and there are dozens within a 20-minute walk. Sunset and Vine, the Arclight, etc. are also close and convenient.

When I do move (and I'm feeling it's time to soon), I'll miss the coziness and convenience of the 'hood more than the building. vWhRVi5nYYIuEh4W7K3l

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