CityLab Daily: A Design History of Dingbats in Los Angeles
Also today: Outdoor huts used in the Jewish holiday Sukkot take on new designs, and Americans keep moving to fire-risky areas.
The Hauser, a dingbat apartment building in the Mid-City neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Photographer: Bing Guan/BloombergWhen Los Angeles County added more than 3 million residents between the 1940s and ‘60s, small developers and mom-and-pop property owners built dingbats to keep up with the demand. The two- or three-story apartment complexes — shaped like a shoebox and divided into as many as 12 units — were an affordable option for young couples, aspiring actors and upwardly mobile residents moving to the city.
In the latest addition to our Iconic Home Designs series, Laura Bliss takes us on a tour inside the “aggressively economical” homes that have become a mainstay in a city where 57% of renters are considered cost-burdened. Within its stucco walls, dingbats hold important lessons for the future of America’s affordable housing crisis — once you look past the retro aesthetics. Today on CityLab: How Los Angeles Became the City of Dingbats