L.A. Is My Beat: #tbt Throw Back Thursday

476 and 474 South Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills, 1967.

It's 1967. My Dad is working on a plan to remodel our duplex at 474-476 South Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills. At the time we were temporarily living in an apartment on Young Drive, across the street from Beverly Hills High School. This was super convenient for me! I could hear the early school bell ring at 7:15 a.m., which woke me up and gave me plenty of time to get ready for my first class at 8:35 a.m.

My folks owned three different duplexes on South Bedford Drive during my childhood years. We lived in two of them at various times. In addition to the apartment on Young Drive, we also lived on North Hillcrest Road in BH. This was another super ambitious remodeling job that my Dad undertook. I wish I had more photos of the Hillcrest Road house. It was demolished years ago and a mini-mansion was erected by new owners in place of our Spanish Revival bungalow turned into a semi-Regency style home by dear ol' Dad.

Notice the Polaroid Fixer Swipe Marks on this photo. 1967.

This duplex was right at the southern border of Beverly Hills. The duplex next door (which he also owned) was half in BH and half in LA. At one time, my Dad was thinking of building an apartment building encompassing both lots. The LA end of the building could have more floors than the BH side, because the building restrictions were different in each city. Naturally, the entrance to the building would be in BH, so the residents could have all of the City services, amenities and cache' of a Beverly Hills address. I'm guessing this was more complicated, costly and more time-consuming a project than Dad wanted to take on.

The result...our remodeled Regency style duplex with an open floor plan, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths...a palace! My Dad had this thing for modified Regency style. I'm guessing that's why I'm obsessed with this style too. We lived there for many years and then rented it when my folks moved to Marina del Rey.