The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 387

Continued black middle- area with growing Latino and Korean segments, plus a mix of Hungarians, Poles, Japanese, USC students and an increasing young professional and gay population. The two-story Craftsman house that Mimi, 27, and Charlie Stuart, 28 (he's a 'The Money a Film About the Horrors of Restoration, Is a Favorite on West Adams ONCE AL 32 LOS ANGELES TIMES MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 21 1986 television account executive), bought in 1982 had been broken into nine rental units. A wall had been built across the living room, bisecting the hearth. There were two bathrooms in the pink and very illegal," Mimi saysand a kitchen in the upstairs bathroom. Mimi, an artist, did nearly all of the interior stripping, refinishing and painting.

The restoration took two years. "In the first year we camped out in the bedroom because it was the least junkedup room," Mimi recalls. "And since we didn't have a heater, we burned the studs and joists from torn-down walls in the fireplace for heat." During the second year of renovation, they got a $40,000 loan from the Community Redevelopment Agency; that went for "plumbing and the heavy duty stuff." Of course, there are good reasons why "The Money Pit," a film about the horrors of restoration, is a favorite with the West Adams Heritage Assn. Stories of roofs crashing and surprise floods abound on the boulevard. The Stuarts recall that they finished stripping and refinishing their living room and dining room in four days when they learned of an impending family visit.

When they returned from the airport with their guests, they walked into a flooded kitchen. "'The new accordion valves under the sink had burst. I learned later that they were the wrong kind," Mimi says. The kitchen now functions perfectly, thanks to a "very rained-on" buffet that the Stuarts rescued from a neighbor's backyard, and cabinets that cost $10 each at the L.A. Wrecking a frequent haunt.

Randy Fuhrman took a completely different tack with his house, modernizing it with sophisticated lighting, overstuffed furniture and contemporary art while maintaining the architectural integrity of the original design. Fuhrman is a man who likes modern comforts, so he immediately installed automatic Malibu lighting, a lawn watering system and numerous electrical outlets. "This house was too Victorian and too dark," he says. "What I've done shows that you don't have to go for the 'Arsenic and Old Lace' look with these houses. Now, the house has two distinct personalities -airy and sunny in the daytime and softly romantic at night." Top: It took Mimi and Charlie Stuart more than two years to restore their house, which had been divided into nine apartments.

Middle: The Stuarts on an heirloom Mission Revival sofa. Bottom: The buffet was found, trashed, in a neighbor's backyard..