John S Park Historic Neighborhood

Improvement Happening Every Where We Look In The Historic Neigborhoods Las Vegas

December 22nd, 2007 Categories: Downtown Las Vegas, Huntridge, John S Park Historic Neighborhood, Las Vegas Real Estate News

The crooked and uneven picket fence as well as the dead tree are finally gone on 8^th Place just south of Oakey! Yeah! The previous owner had put up the fence, but didn’t know how to use a level. I wish I had a before picture. Now you can see the great stone work facing the home.

 

 

 

 

New driveways and landscape are being installed on 8^th Place South of Park Paseo. This home is right next door to our listing at 1249 8th Place

The John S. Park Historic Neighborhood is a one of the best loved of all the great neighborhoods in Vintage Vegas.

 

 

 

New Paint and Windows on 17^th Street, and the landscape will be done next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Major Renovation Underway in John S. Park Historic Neighborhood

December 10th, 2007 Categories: Downtown Las Vegas, Everywhere We Look, Home Repair and Remodel, John S Park Historic Neighborhood

Last month we reported the partial demolition of a the home on the corner of 7th and Bracken in the Radlick Park Subdivision. We grabbed some photos over the weekend of the framing that’s in process.

We’ve talked to the owner, who promises us the finished look will still be in character with the neighborhood.

There’s a few other 2 story homes nearby, so it won’t be the only one around, and the turreted entry should be interesting and fun.

 

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Exposed Beam Ceilings Are A Terrific Feature Of Mid Century Modernism

December 4th, 2007 Categories: Architecture, Housing Styles, John S Park Historic Neighborhood, Marycrest, Mid Century Modern

It was the exposed beams more than any other feature that drew me to my home, and I can’t walk into a home that has them without being awed.

The ceiling material above the beams can be tongue and groove planking, or it can be flat panels of plywood or compressed composite. The composite material in my house has been routered with grooves to create another whole texture to the room.

We’ve just listed 2 Mid Mod Homes this week, and both will be “officially” on the market in the next few days. Both have exposed beams and I wanted to give you a little preview.

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Everywhere We Look – Changes In Vintage Las Vegas Neighborhoods Happen One Home At A Time

November 19th, 2007 Categories: Desert Park, Las Vegas Real Estate News

We got so caught up in Las Vegas History, Downtown Redevelopment and a dozen other things that we forgot to show some of the many and frequent changes that are taking place in the Vintage Neighborhoods. Everywhere We Look is a regular feature highlighting new landscapes, new paint colors, new roofs, windows and anything else I see out there.

If you know of something going on in your neighborhood, I welcome a photo, or at least an address so we can take one.

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Things You Can Do With Wood

November 2nd, 2007 Categories: Architecture, Housing Styles, John S Park Historic Neighborhood, Paradise Palms, Southridge

I started looking for great (or at least good) examples of what can be done with 2×4’s and 4×4’s and slats and beams and battens. I’ve always loved this first example which is on Maryland Parkway between Oakey and St. Louis.

(All Photos on Very Vintage Vegas are really thumbnails. You can see a larger version just by clicking on any picture.)

 

 

1×2 slats over a wood siding are called battens. They serve a useful purpose in covering joints in paneling or wood sidings. They can also be used decoratively, as we see in this example from Paradise Palms.

 

 

 

There’s several more examples below the fold .

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Things Look Different After Dark – Our Residential Historic District At Night

October 29th, 2007 Categories: Architecture, Downtown Las Vegas, John S Park Historic Neighborhood, Las Vegas History, Market Conditions

I’ve probably driven by the front entrance to John S. Park Elementary a hundred times. I’ve even gone in thru these doors to vote. Yet somehow, I never noticed the stick figure student holding up the arched awning. I drove by last night and it was so obvious in the dark with the backlighting, that I just had to share it with you.

The school, and eventually the John S. Park Historic District were named after an early pioneer of Las Vegas who arrived in 1905. He organized and was president of Consolidated Power and Telephone. He lived on 7^th Street. But I’m not sure which house. Does anyone else know?

There’s a walking tour of the John S. Park Historic District.

You should really do it twice. Once in the daylight and once in the dark. It’s a great trip down memory lane.

Coincidently (or not) I’ll take the opportunity to mention the 2 listings I have in the John S. Park Historic District. As much as I HATE to admit it, we’ve had to lower the price on both. They’re at 1249 8th place, which is one of the stops on the walking tour and 1273 9th Street.

Tags: john+s+park, historic+district

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Demolition Of Home In Radlick Park Causes Unfounded Panic in Downtown Las Vegas

October 16th, 2007 Categories: Downtown Las Vegas, Everywhere We Look, Las Vegas History, Radlick

But it turns out its not a complete demolition. I spoke to the owner, Tom, who’s been battling the city planners for 2 years to get permits to tear off the majority of the home and rebuild from scratch. He’ll be adding 800 feet, and keeping the home in character with the neighborhood.

I started getting calls over the weekend, and became determined to find out what was happening. The neighbors who called me were worried that a complete demolition would lead to a suburban style home that would be a sore thumb in this otherwise charming neighborhood.

If you see something that needs exploring, or that the other readers of VVV would want to know about, give me a call or send an email.

From April 5, 2007 on the old web site:

I Stalked A Roadrunner Through Radlick Park – Beep Beep

I spent 20 minutes stalking/following/chasing an extremely rare sighting yesterday! A roadrunner in Radlick Park (Ralwick Park is just 20 homes built in 1953 and 1954. You can find it in the 700 blocks of Oakey, Bracken and Griffith).

Now I’m officially paparazzi. Clicking on any picture will give you a blow up of it.

Tags: roadrunner, demolition

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Terri’s Tale Chapter 2 – The Resurrection Of The History Hunt

October 14th, 2007 Categories: John S Park Historic Neighborhood, Las Vegas History, Las Vegas Real Estate News, Market Conditions, Mid Century Modern

Last week, I posted an email from a lady and her air force husband. Last night she emailed me again. I love her writing style, sense of humor and her passion. As long as she keeps writing, I’ll keep posting them. We’ll label them as “Terri’s Tale”.

 

Last night she wrote:

 

Hi Jack, OK, so today my husband and I drove parts two and three of your history hunt. We were stunned at what we saw.  Who knew those places were right there in the middle of it all!?  People smiled and waved to us when we drove through those neighborhoods.  What’s that all about?! 

 

I fell in love with John S. Park area.  Not like.  Not infatuation.  True love.  You have a mid-century listing on the corner of Oakey and 15th? …. 17th?…  my goodness gracious.  Beautiful.  Bill liked Royal Crest Rancheros the best. We also thought Paradise Palms South was lovely.  I suspect most were out of our price range, with the exception of the fixers around Vegas Valley Drive.  But since we’re not really sure what our price range is right now …. you never know.

 

We finished the drive at dusk and hoped to have dinner at Chicago Joe’s but they had a private party and we couldn’t get in.  I thought about calling you and asking where we should go (in very casual Saturday afternoon driving around attire) but since we haven’t officially met yet, we decided not to bother you and headed back to suburbia instead!

 

We’re going over the the McNeil area next weekend.  I’ll let you know what we think.

 

I’m not sure if I’m pecking or knocking.  But until we’ve squared away some current financial dealings, we can’t take on another property.  So … whatever category researching and wishing falls under, thats us!

 

Take care,

Terri

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A Real Life Story Of The Effects Of The Lending Problem

September 27th, 2007 Categories: John S Park Historic Neighborhood, Las Vegas Real Estate News, Market Conditions, Mortgage

I wanted to revisit one of our listings, and tell the story of why it came back on the market. We were very excited in late June when this wonderful home at 1249 8th Place in the John S. Park Historic Neighborhood sold in only 10 days.

The seller was already scheduled to move to another city to start a new job on July 1. They were the epitome of the Group 2 Seller that I talked about in this post last month. A normal life change reason to sell their home, but unfortunately during a slow period with headlines of doom and gloom.

Everything looked great! That is until July 28, the very day we thought loan documents for the buyer were to arrive in escrow. July 28 was the day the mortgage industry melted down. The company that was making the loan closed its doors. We were left hanging until August 1^st before we even could find someone who could tell us what happened.

The Buyer applied elsewhere for another loan. The seller was sympathetic and gave an extension. The new loan company said “no problem”. The next week, they said “problem”! Guidelines had changed, and they couldn’t do the loan. Then they applied to another company and the same thing happened again.

The buyer found a 5^th mortgage company that said “no problem” except that they had to send the appraisal to a “review company”. The review appraiser, sitting on a bar stool in New Jersey looked it over and said “we have to cut the value by $40,000 because a bank sold a beat up, run down foreclosure for less. The mortgage company said “problem”. The original appraiser wrote an addendum supporting his original price and arguing that the foreclosure should not be used as a “comp” The mortgage company didn’t care.

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