From the Beverly Hills Weekly of August 23, 2001

In 1955, when we moved into our home in Beverly Hills’ “flats,” we found wonderful, friendly, quiet and considerate neighbors living next door.

After the Spanish-style circa-1923 property was sold, the couple who purchased it demolished it. In its place they put up the first mega-mansion in the flats.

The driveway that had been between our two houses was removed, bringing the huge structure only a few feet from our property line.

This diminished our sunlight and our privacy. I asked our then-mayor to please come over and see what had happened. He did, and said he thought it was awful, but that there was nothing he could do about it.

The Potentate's Daughter

This new monster house was built on speculation. One day, I looked out and saw secret service agents on my lawn and a white limo at the curb. I asked the agents what was going on. I was told that the very rich ruler of an African nation was buying the house next door for his daughter to live in while she was going to UCLA. 

What ensued were huge, noisy parties with amplifiers blaring in the back yard. Eventually, the chauffeur, who was always on duty, would warn me of impending parties. That way I could make arrangements to sleep at friends’ homes when such noisy blasts were about to transpire.

The Unpaid Bills

Edison red-tagged the electric meter for lack of payment. They soon came out with a cherry-picker, saying the house had been hot-wired and they were disconnecting it at the alley powerline.

Soon thereafter, mosquitoes appeared. Without electricity the pool filter was no longer working. The city called in County Mosquito Abatement District personnel who lobbed globs of anti-mosquito bacteria onto the pool.

The City’s Dept. of Building. & Safety cited the house with pages of violations. For a while a gardener was hired, the front lawn was mowed, the hedges were properly trimmed. Then a pool man reappeared.

Soon the pool man and the gardener said they were not paid, and they walked off the job. My own gardener of many years agreed to work next door. The check he was given bounced.

Building & Safety Steps In

The contractor was seldom on site and no one seemed to be supervising. That’s when I called Building & Safety, whose personnel responded promptly. They called the BHPD to accompany them to the house next door, in hopes of putting a stop to the throwing of concrete chunks and other debris onto my property.

The police too were wonderful and, in Spanish, explained that what was being done was against the law. Building & Safety took pictures as evidence of the damages done. This included plastic sheeting the contractor had put up on my house, without my permission, while I was away at lunch. He used duct tape to hold up the plastic sheeting. As soon as it was removed the paint went with it.

The contractor evidently got in a dispute with the owner next door and abandoned the work. The scaffolding company was not paid and arrived one day to remove their pipes and planks.

The Price of Blight

I asked a well-known Beverly Hills real estate agent how nearby property values might be affected by the condition of the home next door. Might this ugly sight reduce our property values by a certain percent?

He replied that the property would be entirely devalued, as people had other places they could buy houses without such an ongoing debacle nearby.

That’s when I took photos of the mess next door and appeared before the Beverly Hills City Council to show them what I and my neighbors were being subjected to. I said that if the city did not do something to correct what had become a public nuisance, I would put this story up on a website for the world to see how a once-wonderful neighborhood was allowed, by the city, to deteriorate into a blighted one.

Website Launches

When nothing was done, I put up a website named after the first newspaper in Beverly Hills, www.BeverlyHillsCitzen.org, and placed on it a photo of the house of horrors next door.

Subsequently, a member of the city council, who was running for re-election, agreed to try to help me. A meeting was called in the Building & Safety director’s office. It included the director, the city prosecutor, the city’s senior code enforcement officer, its risk manager and myself.

Soon thereafter, on Jan. 3, 2001, an excellent new contractor and his son took over the project. But, a week or so later they were no longer on the scene. Again, a matter of non-payment.

With the able assistance of a local attorney, work was resumed next door and proceeded well toward completion on August 8.

I had been so pleased with the project’s quality and the courtesy and consideration of the contractor, his son and the attorney, that I wanted to do something nice to commemorate completion of the beautifully restored house.

The End — Or Is It?

I asked if they would like a picture taken of the completed house, to place on my website as the “after” of “before and after” photos. I said I would ask the mayor to join in the photo. They said yes, and that the owner’s daughter, who is expected to re-occupy the house, might also enjoy this occasion.

I explained that as soon as the front hedge is properly trimmed, so we can better see the top story of the house, and so it complies with the city’s code, I would schedule a date and time convenient for all. On August 5, I asked the mayor if he would join us for this photo and he too said yes.

Then, August 8, I was delighted to see men next door looking up at the hedge. I came out to say that I thought that if they just cut it to the top or the middle of the lanterns on either side of it, that would be fine. It would still exceed the 6’ limit specified in the ordinance, but it would much improve its scale in relation to the house and the neighboring properties. Theirs is the only, non-complying, exceedingly tall, front hedge on either side of the block.

A man I had never seen before told me to mind my own business, that he was the property manager for the owner and had been for the past 15 years. He would not give his name, but continued in a hostile, rude manner until I returned to my home. Now I know what kind of a person has been in charge of this property next door. And, the kind of person who has allowed it to damage our property values while he evidently neglected its care.

I hope that his hostile attitude will soon become one of a cooperative neighbor. And that he will soon realize that what happens to one home becomes the neighbors’ business, when that home’s owner abdicates responsibility for its proper care and maintenance.

The owner’s daughter has evidently now resumed her residency next door. We have little doubt, as she apparently summons her servants by pressing loudly on her SUV's horn until they appear.

Ellen Stern Harris 
Editor of BeverlyHillsCitizen.org