Took off the picture because it was breaking up the feng shui of the page.

Looking at this PDF, it would seem that Pasadena has a lot of projects underway. And it's not just Pasadena, but the rest of the LA basin as well. I noticed it first when I was in Union Station dining at Traxx, and then later on subsequent trips in mass transit, but it seems like Los Angeles is finally catching up to the real estate growth of the rest of Southern California. Long has it languished in the shadow of Riverside, Ventura and San Diego counties as far as real estate appreciation. Now, with many priced out of new homes in those areas, developers seem to be looking to the city. Playa Vista has been in development for the longest time, but now other sections of Los Angeles are following suit. There seems to be a growing trend toward connected housing (lofts, condos, and townhomes) as the population urbanizes.

Of course, I remember having dinner with Matt and Liz one night in Pasadena and lamented the fact that I couldn't afford a $400k condo in Old Pas. Now I would highly doubt if a $400k condo ever showed up on the Old Pas market again. Highly doubt. (Lesson: never place too much emphasis on your beliefs. The universe has a weird sense of humor)

But what I think is creating the real estate bubble is a sort of quadruple-witching: a) empty-nest baby boomers and b) propserous Gen-X'ers are c) using a brisk economy to change their risk tolerance and d) using creative-financing to live just outside of their means.

I said "Long has it languished in the shadow" because I just finished watching The Return of the King's extended commentary. I don't know if you know this, but 2 DVDs is a lot of bonus material. I bet that if they released the Return of the King bonus material as an actual theatrical release, it would outsell Gigli.