If Los Angeles were one big high school, and everyone wanted to do something because "all the cool kids were doing it," the cool kids would be the celebrities. We get their haircuts, copy their outfits and, at one point in history, have all said, "That's HOT," because Paris Hilton did. We all may be ashamed to admit this, but at the time, she was head cheerleader in this circus.
According to the tabloids, all the cool kids are moving to the "the birds" above Sunset Boulevard in the hills, particularly a street called Blue Jay Way. "The birds" are a collection of streets clustered at the top of the hills, with sweeping views from the ocean to the Los Angeles basin. Some street names include Oriole, Nightingale and Swallow. All the tabloids feature spreads with aerial views, claiming that young Hollywood has built their nest on the bird streets. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Aniston and Keanu Reeves all have homes there. What's more, is that George Harrison wrote a song about the street. Below is a photo of the house he stayed in for a little while on Blue Jay Way.
I was stoked to take the greyhounds on a nice hike, especially with the jutting, hard-to-climb hills. Much of the time we were out of breath and felt on top of the world, physically. I could see everything, including a dark grey tumble of clouds sweeping over Catalina Island and towards our shores. Blue Jay Way was up so high, one can predict weather patterns! But I was floored by how crappy the homes were. You know the types. Small ranchers from the 60's with low-slung roofs covered in pebbles. Driveways lined with cinder block walls painted white. Yeech. Sure, George Harrison's old pad (pictured above) had a pool, but otherwise it's a place where architecture goes to die. That place needed a pool to distract the owners from how depressing it was.
I think what sold the residents were the views. No doubt the real estate ads showed amazing nighttime shots like this realtor's photo I found:
With heights like this, Leo, among his other neighbors, could feel like "King of the World!!!!"
