Blocks that were once sleepy, with single-story ranch houses from the 1940s set comfortably back from the street, are now lined with bloated villas pushed near the front of their lots [...]
What's happening in Arcadia is less about big new houses and startling sales figures than how new patterns of immigration are transforming the architecture of Southern California. [...]
The architectural landscape is being remade not to displace [Chinese immigrants] but as a magnet for their money.
— latimes.com
9 Comments
Exactly. Arcadia is inundated with Chinese money and Chinese taste, which, unfortunately is ostentatious. Should be a lesson to policy makers
Sameolddr, let's not blame it on the Chinese. It is across the world.
oh, didn't know Arcadia is a city in CA. This was more provocative when I thought Arcadia was a metaphor.
Ditto, Midlander! -- I thought the reference was to the curtain wall manufacturer.
The Chinese are no different from anyone else when flush with money. Looking at the photos, I wouldn't know if this was "Chinese" taste or any other group. Like Orhan said, it's how humans roll, for better and for worse.
...it's how humans roll, for better and for worse.
I like this phrase very much, Thayer.
And yes, if you look at wealthy new suburban-like developments in India, Nigeria, Poland, Mexico, wherever...they're all a weird blend of traditional and contemporary vernacular styles, but have in common that they're all overblown and ostentatious.
Taste is personal. Money is not known to improve it.
Yes, its not the chinese, and its all around the world, but I was referring specifically to Arcadia, which used to have some very nice homes, uprooted almost all by wealthy Chinese, who have enough money to invest, to get an EB-5 green card. So, perhaps it is a pet peeve, as I "know" Arcadia. The bigger problem, at least in SoCal is "regular" users being phased out by wealthy (again mostly Chinese) buyer paying all-cash offers, and then supplanting shit in its place.
Again, sorry if I was targeting the Chinese in general, it was more about Arcadia and SoCal in general.
"The big(ger) problem ... is "regular" users being phased out by wealthy ... buyer[s] paying all-cash offers, and then supplanting shit in its place."
Welcome to the new landscape of wealth.
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