At one point, we lived in the “island of Arcadia” just a few houses away from the Frank Lloyd Wright designed home for his brother and his wife, Gladys and David Wright. I was obsessed with this home as it was so beautiful and so close to where I lived. It was quite tumultuous at one point, the home was up for sale and the rumor was it was going to be raised for the land!
The land is worth more than this treasure?
I rode over to the home on my bike one day and there was a Range Rover from Montana parked in front. I was not too invasive but the guy was unlocking the gate!
“Hey, I’m a neighbor, I live bla bla blah and curious, do you fly fish?” We chit chat for a bit and I walked the grounds with him. I found out he was the owner, a developer and he didn’t want to tear down the home if no one wanted that but he didn’t want to lose his investment. It was a mess at this time, the home needed substantial repairs, reinforcement to keep it in code. The land being worth more chopped into two or three tracts to build “Mc Mansions” I call them.
In our area, Arcadia is filled with old money, low roofed spreads, ranch style homes with good bones and huge irrigated spreads. Developers come in and bulldoze them down, split the lot and put up two story chicken wire stucco homes and sell them to new money and they make a fortune.
I grew up here and one of my first tries at a job was delivering papers on Lafayette and Exeter and the streets that were between. A old girlfriend grew up here and when her Mom died she inherited the home. She really didn’t want to live there as it was a big place to take care of.
“Adam, I’m going to sell the place and move up North with my husband.” She had another home in Tucson, anyway… “I’m going to sell it for 1.2 million.” I thought she was crazy. No way that house was going to sell for that. I loved her house. I knew her Mom and she was a good friend. We used to party and snowboard together.
Anyway, her house sold for 1.2 million and she moved up North while we stayed in Arcadia, Baja Arcadia though, South of the high school. It’s interesting, the houses just a few homes away from our home are for sale, 1.2 million.
Totally not worth it, we bought our home a long time ago for a quarter of that.
Not selling.
Yet.
But, I do love Arcadia and the David and Gladys Wright home. I tried to get my Dad to buy it but he just laughed at me. He lives up North too. Pretty close to my old friend now that I think of it.
I love Arcadia. I’m growing my family here. I’m not leaving.
Not yet.
