A pedestrian walks a dog past The Pink Flamingo dingbat apartment building. From the San Fernando Valley to Culver City to La Cienega Heights, developers in the 1950s and ‘60s replaced thousands of older Los Angeles buildings with economical two- or three-story apartment complexes, known locally as dingbats.
Photographer: Bing Guan/BloombergThe Iconic Affordable Homes for L.A. Dreamers
The colorful carport-equipped dingbat apartment buildings offered cheaper — and sometimes stylish — digs for generations of L.A. dreamers.
(This article is part of Bloomberg CityLab’s series exploring the iconic home designs that shaped global cities. Read more from the series. Get the next story sent to your inbox by subscribing to the CityLab Daily newsletter.)
Faced with a housing shortage, Los Angeles once had a solution. From the San Fernando Valley to Culver City to La Cienega Heights, developers in the 1950s and ’60s tore down thousands of older buildings and filled in virtually every square foot with aggressively economical two- or three-story apartment complexes — known locally as dingbats.