Tuesday, July 12, 2011

BostonBrick.com: Neighborhoods are Different

By Jo Lauricella

I have always enjoyed looking at neighborhoods and trying to figure out what makes them different from other neighborhoods. I first discovered this game in New York City. I took the subway to an area, got off and walked to the next subway stop. I got back on the subway and got off one or two stops later. Even as I climbed the stairs to the street I could feel the difference. New neighborhood, new feel, new look. I got caught up in the differences and yet how similar each neighborhood was.

I did not grow up in Los Angeles, and before I moved here I had the "Hollywood" impression of "LA LA Land". Nothing could be further from the truth. I have traveled all over Los Angeles County in my job as the Marketing Manager for Boston Brick & Stone. I get the opportunity to visit Real Estate Offices all over the County and have found an amazing diversity in neighborhoods. Just like New York City some of the diversity comes from ethnic differences, although more and more neighborhoods are ethnically and culturally blended. Yet there are still fascinating, though subtle differences.

Los Angeles has one difference from New York City, and that is the effect of earthquakes on different neighborhoods. Masonry construction in earthquake country has unique challenges and because Boston Brick & Stone specializes in Chimneys, I have had to learn a great deal about earthquakes and their effects.

Earthquakes shake, grind, heave and shift the ground. It is the geology of the ground affected by the quake which in turn affects the building sitting on that ground. This means that some neighborhoods are affected and others just a block away are not. There was a 4.5 quake in Chino a couple of years ago. A two or three square block area had a lot of chimney damage; the rest of the area was virtually undamaged.

Gallery-chim

If you are an Angelino, take a walk through a neighborhood and look up. Do you see chimneys with mushroom chimney caps on them? If you do that is a sure sign the chimney has been rebuilt since the Northridge Earthquake. If you are seeing a lot of these mushroom caps, chances are the neighborhood was hit hard by an earthquake. If a home in that neighborhood does not have a mushroom chimney cap there are three possibilities: first the chimney is not damaged (unlikely), or the chimney had a full reinforced masonry rebuild that allows for a variety of chimney caps, or the chimney is broken and has never been rebuilt.

I still play the neighborhood game every time I visit New York City. As I am now a true
Angelino, visiting the Big Apple as I walk and look at the tall buildings, I often think, "thank goodness this Island is not seismically active!" 

 

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