383 Park Avenue -- Now and Then

Recently golf went to visit a Victorian house she and Larry lived in about 17 years ago. They were only renting the house, but they had painted the interior rooms and decorated it to fit its age. It has since been sold, allowed to deteriorate, went into foreclosure, and was purchased in 2001 to be renovated. The current owners have adapted it to modern use, in a way that makes the house much more livable in terms of insulation, new windows (but the old wavy glass original windows were replaced), new wiring and plumbing (apparently the original copper pipes were all removed for profit) but virtually removes much of the original footprint and interior of the house. Below are pictures of the house now and then. golf feels that the "period" appearance of the "then" pictures will be fairly obvious.

The current appearance is the yellow house on the left; the right is how the house looked when golf and Larry lived there.

On the left is the current foyer, wherein the paneling under the stairs has been removed to open up a door to a bathroom. During golf's tenure, that bathroom was a "mud" room with a closet under the stairs. golf doesn't have a major problem with this usage, as it is more practical and could actually be the original plan.

This is a view from the current parlor on the right side of the house (as you enter it) looking back into the foyer. The previous owner who went into foreclosure removed a single pocket door that was about 48 inches wide and simply put an open double-door-wide opening here.

Below is a view from the dining room into the parlor during golf's occupancy. This doorway has pocket doors, which fortunately remain.

Below is a similar view today, showing the fireplace, which has been stripped of years of paint. This is good.

Below is the same fireplace when golf decorated the room for Christmas.

A simliar perspective view of the current parlor.

One more view of golf's parlor from the dining room, not at Christmas. Note the large wooden door on the right. This was originally a pocket door (note the wide door frame) that had been cut off at the top and hung on hinges. This is the door that has been removed and the doorway widened.

Below is the current dining room on the left, with golf's dining room on the right. golf had a WONDERFUL 10-foot tall sideboard in the angled corner where there had originally been a fireplace (the house had a coal-burning fireplace in every room).

Just "behind" the dining room was a very large room that golf and Larry used as the master bedroom. They had a half tester bed. Today is is merely a bedroom.

Across the hall from the dinng room was another bedroom during golf's occupancy. This room has been virtually removed, with the hall wall torn down, along with the wall behind the headboard of the brass bed shown below and a new kitchen constructed. (This formerly white-painted fireplace has also been stripped, which is good, basically.)

This is a lovely, usable, open, airy, modern space. But it really doesn't fit in this house, in golf's opinion. The kitchen could have been made with the former kitchen and an old bathroom behind it, leaving this bedroom in place. Now it's a "media" room in a 1900-era house, when no one knew what that word meant . . . .

Below is the upstairs hall, now and then. The "sleeping porch" at the end of the hall at the back of the house has been converted to a modern tile, chrome, and mirrors bath. golf had wall paper and wainscotting in the hall, along with a stained glass table and an Oriental runner.

The former sleeping porch, now a modern bathroom.

At the top of the stairs is the first upstairs bedroom. When golf lived there, she turned it into a study/library. It is now simply another bedroom. Here's golf's library:

The current bedroom is on the left; a view of the fireplace in golf's library on the right.

Down the hall to the left is another bedroom. This became golf's "rose room." That was the kindest thing that could be said about the paint in the room that was supposed to be "dusty rose." It turned out, once on the walls, to be more Pepto-Bismol pink! Fortunately her walnut furniture and Jacobean curtains made it look at least semi-planned . . . . (Note another stripped fireplace surround.)

"Behind" golf's green room/library study is another bedroom. This became the "blue room." This is currently the master bedroom of the house because the attic that was beyond the white door in the picture on the right below has been turned into a huge, stoned master bath with large walk-in closet beyond. (Note this formerly white-painted fireplace has also been stripped, which does look better. ) (All these stripped fireplaces surrounds are, golf supposes, good in that they are back to the probable original wood condition. The problem is that stripped wood LOOKS stripped! It looks bleached out and dry. It might takes years of mink oil and elbow grease to get the fireplaces looking really pretty.)

The "attic" bathroom. It is lovely . . . . .

When golf and Larry lived there, the house needed a LOT of work -- they fixed it up merely cosmetically because they were only renting and the landlord wouldn't give credit for anything done to the house. Most of the "basics" HAVE now been done, which is good for the house -- and the owners, apparently -- as the landlord would have sold the house to golf and Larry for $125,000 in 1992. At that time, they wouldn't pay that much for it. Even in foreclosure in 2001, the value placed on the house was around $300,000, when it needed at least as much work if not more than it needed in 1992. Now, with current renovations, it is valued by Zillow at more than $1 million. "Location, location, location" and size -- around 6,000 square feet -- in the historic area of Grant Park in Atlanta has a lot to do with that value. But I frankly doubt that the house will sell for anywhere close (within $200,000 or so) of that amount. In golf's opinion, the "historic" value of the house has been corrupted with the current renovations, which could hurt its value. Most people who want to buy in the Grant Park area want the "history" of the house. This house no longer has it. And probably, technically, it needs as much exterior work as has been done structurally for the interior. golf thinks it is still probably one of the four largest original houses in Grant Park -- but it is no longer "original."

Time will tell. The owners expect to put the house on the market sometime in the next few months. golf has ideas about how to re-structure the "media" room to be more "period" than it currently is and get the Victorian "design" back in place. What a pity that the potential new owners don't know to get in touch with her and take advantage of her ideas . . . . oh, well.

Our trip to Riu Merengue, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Larry and golf decided on another trip! Yea! And, of course, golf insisted I come along. Fortunately, Larry is very tolerant . . .

We had a great time on the beach, and I particularly enjoyed the seagrape trees that lined the beach.

You'll see in the slideshow below that I was spotted while climbing the tree and it seems that I really amused one guy -- or else he was laughing at golf . . . .

I also sneaked out of the bag golf had me in and crept up on Larry (and his beer!) before I went out and sat on the beach -- and got caught in the surf.

Don't know where or when our next trip will be -- maybe Hilton Head or better yet Maui! Haven't been to Maui. Actually I haven't been to Hilton Head either, but I'd rather go to Maui (so would golf!).

December 5, 2008: 'Tis the Season . . . .

Okay, I agree, not all that exciting, considering Larry just got back from Dublin, Ireland, and he didn't even take me -- but to entertain myself while he was gone, I went down to golf's office to cavort with her Christmas girls. Actually, that could be more fun than hanging out with Larry, but, then, he WAS in Dublin, where I've never been. Maybe next time . . . .

Merry Christmas!!

(Am glad that's fake snow I'm standing on, or it could get a tad chilly on bare feet. But -- been there, done that! Remember the snowman pictures from last year?)

November 14, 2008 -- Interesting Juxtaposition

Recently golf was given a picture of herself that her sister had (for some unknown reason!). Can you guess the date of it by the hair style, clothes, cars, etc.? Good thing golf never ran into Ted Bundy during those days -- she looks like his typical victim!

Saturday, November 8

This may be the one time of the year when I don't mind not being in Hawaii.

Autumn in north Georgia can be gorgeous.

And this is only golf's rather boring neighborhood subdivision.

Wednesday, September 17 -- Last Day :-(

It is a very sad thing to wake up one morning and realize it is your last day in paradise. The flight golf and Larry needed to catch left at 1:10 p.m., so they didn't have a lot of time to do much this morning. Fortunately golf had done most of the packing up the night before, because she wanted to make one more pilgramage to the tidal pool this morning, and Larry agreed to go with her because they could snorkel at the beach a little northwest of the tidal pool, where they had briefly snorkeled before. So they gathered their gear and headed toward south Waimanalo Beach.

When they arrived and parked, they walked down to the beach to check out the conditions. There was a local fisherman there, pulling on his wading boots. When he found out they were planning on going in the water, he advised that they might want to reconsider or be very careful because a 15-foot tiger shark had been spotted off Waimanalo Beach on Tuesday (the day before). Since golf had not be able to snorkel the day before at Pupukea Beach, she still wanted to go snorkeling today in spite of the cautionary reminder. She went back to the car to get her equipment.

When she got back to the beach, Larry was nowhere to be seen! Frankly, golf had gotten the impression from him that he wasn't the least bit interested in seeing the tidal pool, but there was nowhere else from him to have gone, so she traipsed around the wall, wading a bit (it wasn't full low tide) and found him there. "This place is a dump!" He was appalled at the condition that the estate was in. Nevertheless, when golf pulled out the video camera, he said he wanted to shoot the movies, so she turned the camera over to him.

The Tidal Pool

While Larry filmed, golf started gathering up little broken pieces of dead coral that were lying around on the beach. Larry stopped filming and asked what in the world she was doing. She told him that she was collecting pieces of coral to take back and offer to the folks on Magnum Mania (magnum-mania.com). If SHE couldn't have gotten there herself, she would still love to have a piece of broken and worn coral actually FROM there. Larry did his usual eye-roll at golf's antics and continued to film what he could, which wasn't much -- too much foliage to protect Ms. Anderson's privacy. Can't fault her too much, there are many Magnum fans who could present a bit of a problem for her, but for us respectful ones, it's rather sad.

The Boathouse/Guesthouse

Back over at the beach where they parked, golf decided to go in the water to snorkel in spite of the shark warning. Larry said he would watch. golf had a high ole time snorkeling in what she thought was about 3-4 feet of water, not worrying about the shark, because a 15-foot shark couldn't fit into water that shallow without being spotted before he got too close for comfort. However, after she came out and mentioned that to Larry, he told her the water was closer to 15-20 feet deep, not as shallow as she thought, and the shark, if it had still been around, could have very well swum under her before she realized it was there. At that point, golf decided maybe she was glad she was safely out of the water. (But she really didn't think the shark was hanging around just waiting for her -- it was long gone -- well, that's what she convinced herself of).

Back at the ranch, final packing up and heading to the airport. Michael called to check in and see what their schedule was because it was possible that, flying standby, they might not have been able to get on the 1:10 direct flight from Honolulu to Atlanta. Michael told golf to call him from the airport and let him know if they were able to get on the flight. golf agreed to do so, because if they hadn't made that flight, they would have to wait until 10:30 that night for the next flight, and they might have needed a little "entertainment" instead of waiting for 9 hours at the airport. Michael didn't SAY he was willing to come pick them up and take them driving around to MPI filming locations, but golf considered making the request, if they were not able to get on the flight.

However, when they got to the airport, they were able to get on the flight home. golf was rather ambivalent about making the flight. Who wants to leave Hawaii?

So . . . . aloha till the next time! In the meantime, golf intends to expose Larry to a lot more MPI episodes so maybe for the next trip, he may be willing to "explore" and find other filming locations. There are SO many they didn't get to! If you would like to see them on Google Earth, leave me a Comment, and golf can provide the Google Earth "map" that rubberchicken on Magnum Mania created that shows over 300 filming locations from the show.

Life back here on the mainland isn't nearly so entertaining. But I'll try to keep busy with . . . . something or other.

Tuesday, September 16: Finally A Gorgeous Day!

And, of course, it doesn’t come until our next-to-last day here. No vog, no rain, no drizzle, not a cloud in the sky. Larry and golf were still determined to snorkel, and now that they know where the Shark’s Cove is, they decided to head that way again, even if it was about an hour and a half drive. Quite a difference in number of people at the beaches from Saturday when they drove there. A weekday is apparently the correct time to go to the beaches. And for this trip, Larry stopped and let golf take pictures of the sugar mill ruins at Kualoa Ranch:

and the abandoned hospital (or whatever it is, they never found out -- if anyone knows, please add a comment and tell me).



The pretty weather resulted apparently from the winds driving the vog away, but it also resulted in a much rougher surf on the north shore. golf stood and looked at Shark’s Cove a long time before deciding it was simply too rough for her to go into the water and plan to survive. Even Larry agreed it was a little iffy.

So they repaired to Pupukea Beach, where I finally got to explore. However, the surf here was pretty strong too. Larry went in swimming and recommended that golf not do so.

Below is Larry standing on the shore on the right in the picture. You can see the surf breaking over the reefs further out, somewhat protecting the beach from the worst waves.

So she and I stayed on the beach where she took pictures of me. I was a little cautious at first,

but soon the sound of the surf was too much of a draw, and I finally got my feet sandy and wet!

Oops! Washed away! Water sneaked up and grabbed me before golf could rescue me!

After golf and I played with the pictures, she went back and sat on the beach towel and was just enjoying the view. It dawned on her that her phone might work and she could call her office and instill a little envy in those stuck in an office. So she called one of her bosses. When he answered his phone, she just started laughing because she hadn't really expected her cell phone to work there on the beach. She then talked to a couple of her co-workers, who were sufficiently annoyed at her to make the call worthwhile. She then decided to send them a picture; however, she wasn't very familiar with her own cell phone usage, and while she was trying to figure it out, the phone rang! It was Michael, just calling to see how she and Larry were doing and what they were up to.

Larry and golf wrapped it up here and headed south to change clothes and go play golf for the afternoon. Today they played at Hawaii Kai. At least their game there was better than at Ko'olau, and the weather was much nicer! But at the last green, Larry got a little silly.