Recently “This Old House” magazine sited West Adams as California’s best place to buy an old house. The revival of this historic community owes much to the efforts of local realtor David Raposa.
As a young man growing up in Boston, David Raposa was always interested in architecture, checking out houses that were for sale or under construction, sketching the homes and floor plans he had seen and sometimes even creating his own designs.
Graduating from Harvard University in 1980 with a Masters in Business Administration, David became a CPA, working in New York City. He eventually found work with a large financial institution and soon found himself on a plane to Los Angeles to help manage their West Coast office.
With a mind for business and a love for beautiful things, David began buying property, a home on the edge of Palm Springs, a Spanish-style duplex in the Pico Robertson area and by 1986 he was devoting himself full time to real estate and historic architecture.His interest and his professional background merged when David purchased City Living Realty in the mid-1980’s.
It was an ad for vintage houses that brought David to the West Adams District.
Characters from several of his internationally-known novels operate from our area -- peppered with references to places like Oki-Dog, The Cork and the day laborers at Lucy’s drive-thru. In his blog, Phillips waxes eloquent about Magee’s Donuts, and Pico Boulevard, which he calls “The Boulevard of Desire” typifying how “this city grew in its slap-dash manner . . . a mélange of auto body and auto repair shops side-by-side with beauty parlors, yoga studios, tropical fish stores, and tony tchotchke shops,” . . . where one can get their “yard bird” on at Golden Bird Chicken.
It must be the Adams first law-of-physics that our charming neighborhood should attract a charming children’s book author. Barbara Bottner, five-year resident of Western Heights is the author and/or illustrator of over 36 books for children and young adults.
During one of my evening strolls a neighbor pointed out a cute little house set back off the street. She told me that one of the best quilters in Los Angeles lived there. 
