LOS ANGELES
In a city obsessed with tumbling home values and horrible traffic, maybe it's appropriate that the two collided on the Hollywood Freeway.
For 10 days now, a sagging house parked on Highway 101's northbound shoulder in the Cahuenga Pass has had people gawking -- and talking.
The advertising slogan, "If you lived here you'd be home now," has been uttered a thousand times. Radio traffic reporters repeatedly have blamed snarled commuter traffic on "that house on the freeway."
Bloggers have joked about how the house has given new meaning to the real estate term "easy freeway access."
Commuters have noted with disgust that taggers each night are scrawling fresh graffiti on the home.
On Monday, state highway officials gave the owner of the green stucco bungalow until midnight to pick it up and move it. If it wasn't gone by this morning, the California Department of Transportation was prepared to hire a mover and bill the job to the homeowner.
That was just the latest bad news for Patrick Richardson, who was trying to save money Sept. 15 by moving the house himself from Santa Monica to the Santa Clarita Valley.
Richardson, 45, of Castaic obtained a permit from Caltrans to transport the oversize load on the freeway. Instead of taking the shortest route -- up Interstate 405 and over the Sepulveda Pass, he took a longer and more level route through downtown Los Angeles and north on the 101.
By the time the 20-foot-wide structure reached the downtown area, wheels reportedly were coming loose from the trailer hauling the house. Richardson made emergency repairs and lumbered onward, only to come to a halt again in Hollywood.
That's where his house struck a 14-foot, 10-inch bridge. The impact sheared off the top of the structure's gabled roof. A Sigalert was called when it took hours to free the stuck house.
Richardson eventually was able to drive another 3? miles to a freeway undercrossing where the shoulder was wide enough to park out of traffic lanes.
There the house has sat, day after day, rush hour after rush hour.
"Every morning it has a new set of writing on it," said Engineer Fred Martinez, referring to taggers' vandalism. "We hear brakes locking up as people slow down to take pictures of it."
One taking snapshots has been Josh Williams, co-editor of a local blog called la.curbed.com. He has photographed the house on his way from Hollywood to Woodland Hills, where he works.
"By Tuesday, people started tagging it up and there was graffiti all over it. Then, probably by Thursday or Friday, somebody put a 'For Rent' sign on it, and now they have a Caltrans truck out there and more cones. It's just taking on a life of its own," Williams said.
Joe Smith, a clerk at a mini-mart, said he has seen unusual scenes on the Hollywood Freeway but nothing like the house.
"Everyday I'm surprised to see it still there. It's dangerous," he said.
Meanwhile, the house continued to take a toll on commuters.
Caltrans has coned off the far right lane around the house, and as of Monday evening, traffic was backed up to downtown's four-level interchange.
Judy Gish, a Caltrans spokeswoman, said Richardson loses jurisdiction at midnight.
"It becomes abandoned property," Gish said.
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