I’ve been running around a lot again in this area of town called Skinker-DeBaliviere… Before my employers started turning old wineries, hotels and monasteries into apartments – they built their property portfolio in this neck of the woods….

They still own seven small apartment buildings in the area – therefore they’re on the photography rotation schedule. (Whenever one becomes vacant – I snag pics between move-ins to be used for the *NEXT* time they’re vacant).

The hood is has really changed over the last decade… I worked with my first business partner out of college in a small apartment on Waterman and Skinker. In those days – it was pretty much understood: you don’t go “into” the neighborhood.

These days I don’t think you could get into any of the houses for under three hundred K.

crazy.

So the funny part here is it seems every time I venture into Stinky-D to take pictures of one of our buildings – something embarrassing happens to me.

Maybe it’s because these places are old and are simply “maintained” – not totally rehabbed like all the new projects work is doing. Places that most of us associate with your “first apartment”: cooler old buildings with hardwood floors and wood molding you can “almost” make out underneath the thirty coats of latex.

Time before last? I set off the buildings alarm system.

Time before that? I somehow kept getting the wrong keys from the leasing staff and wound up making three trips to take one picture.

Last time?

The deck’s screen door handle broke locking me on the veranda..

I had to either a: repel off the building… b: call maintenance and wait and bake in the 100+ heat…. or… c: break in.

I chose “C”,… all the while telling myself that it’s much better that the landlord’s advertising guy gets stuck out there than the tenant who’s due to move in like today.

Guess we’ll see if there’s the approximate cost of a screen door backed out of my next chicken.