These Are Illegal to Build in LA

I had seen these on my many trips to California, but I had no idea they had a name and an interesting history. These buildings are called “dingbats” and they feature a car park underneath the housing. They are long and skinny like a shotgun shack but feature multiple apartments that can be accessed from either side. They were ideal for LA in the 1950s because they could fit multiple units on a lot similar in size to a single-family home. They are illegal to build now, mostly because they are sort of fire traps. There is limited access and there is no common area for the tenants to gather. However, these are dotted all along the beach communities along the coast and most anyone who has lived in LA for any length of time has probably lived in one because they tend to be pretty cheap (for LA anyway). In this video, we learn all about them. What could we do if we updated their design and made them more modern? They could be the solution to our housing shortage!