Celluloid Apartment Hunting
by pam ashlund
Today I went to Burbank to look at an apartment where I met Ethan the leasing agent. The Lakeside apartments are built on grounds formerly part of the Warner's Ranch. Built in the early 1960's these ticky-tacky units are nestled in the shadow of Universal Studios. They look out over a mountain that Ethan told me is the mountain they used to film the Walton's.
"It doesn't look a bit like Virginia", Ethan cattily told me.
"The Disney building must have been built after" I said.
"No, actually from the location of the set they could film the mountain without the building getting in the way but they couldn't pan very far to the left or the right because of the power lines".
"They had to be very careful doing the shots" Ethan continued in earnest.
This, as we walked around the corner to the bungalow's at the end of Sarah lane.
"You see that Church over there?"
"Ummm" I said.
"It isn't a real Church, just part of a set".
"Ummm" I said again.
Ethan put his pass key into the courtyard gate and the door swung open before he put the key into the gate. "Oh, that's great" Ethan commented. The gate was swinging half off its hinge.
"How much do these apartments run" I asked.
"$880 for this one".
"And how much is the deposit?"
"$499, do you have any pets? Cats are a $300 deposit, and, oh, there is $25 a month for the cat"
"Cat Rent?"
"Yeah, Cat rent, it isn't very popular".
"Ummm"
"Do they have apartments that face the street?"
"You said you weren't interested in a townhome" Ethan reminded me.
"Ummm".
We walked around the pool to the stairs and up to the 2nd floor.
"Do you mind living next to a highway? Oh, here's #33".
The door was hard to open, Ethan gave me some keys to hold while he tried to get the door open again. He was having a bad key day. "Looks like someone tried to punch a hole in that door" I said. "Ummm" Ethan said, opening the door.
On our way out back to the leasing office, a young boy called "Hi Ethan!".
"Hey, when did you get home last night?"
"Midnight" the boy called who couldn't have been more than 10 years old.
"How long did it take for them to get your latex off?"
"About an hour"
"Tell your Mom thanks again"
"His mom got me to tickets to a play version of Pinocchio they were doing at Disney last night, it's called "Geppheto".
That was Pinocchio back there by the pool.
"Ummm."
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