When people first settled in Manhattan Beach early in the last century, blowing sands were a problem.
Sand blew onto the boardwalk, disrupted the "Red Car" trains by covering up the tracks, and piled up in and around houses, including stacking up on the roofs.
If you had a holiday house in Manhattan Beach,…
When people first settled in Manhattan Beach early in the last century, blowing sands were a problem.
Sand blew onto the boardwalk, disrupted the "Red Car" trains by covering up the tracks, and piled up in and around houses, including stacking up on the roofs.
If you had a holiday house in Manhattan Beach, you had better visit from time to time to clear off the roof, or have someone local who would take care of it for you.
Then, someone hit upon the idea of constructing Manhattan Beach houses like they do in alpine areas subject to heavy snow: Using an A-frame design that would prevent sand from sticking, or piling up, just as the A-frame cabins shed snow as it falls.
The concept was brilliant, but did not exactly take over as a perennial design for local homes.
Yet in the 1960s, someone decided we needed a house with a nod to that history, and they built it at 1504 Highland, in sight of downtown and the pier.
That home is now for sale, for what they say is the first time in 40 years.
It's got 3br/3ba, 1675 sqft. and a lot of history.
The first image above is a picture-of-a-picture, imperfect but epic, showing the house as we've seen it more than a few times - as party central. (If you think you remember being at that party, you weren't.)
Other images in the listing go back to the 1984 Olympics, with the torch coming right by on Highland, as well as parades and views of fireworks.
The home itself still has all the charm of a home built in the 60s and kinda frozen in the 80s, in a good way in this case.
It's like your grandma and grandpa's house, if gram and gramps are beach lifers who will simply always be cooler than you.
Heck, they won a holiday decorating award for just rolling with the A-frame home design, making it look like a tree. (An image of that is also in the listing.)
For this particular slice of local history, you'll need $2.599M.
And please, don't come in with your plans to remodel with white-marble countertops, designer fixtures and special-order furniture.
1504 Highland is odd, awkward, sort of funny and meant to be lived in, maybe even overfilled from time to time.
If you're ready to keep that kind of tradition, then sure, take a look. Maybe it's you they need to pass the torch to.
Here's guessing that Sunday's open house is gonna be lit.
Please see our blog disclaimer.
Listings presented above are supplied via the MLS and are brokered by a variety of agents and firms, not Dave Fratello or Edge Real Estate Agency, unless so stated with the listing. Images and links to properties above lead to a full MLS display of information, including home details, lot size, all photos, and listing broker and agent information and contact information.