00:00Hi, this is Christina. Welcome to my sweet digs. Before you come in, just make sure to subscribe in this
00:08general area and we'll wait.
00:11Alright, come on in. I live in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles and I pay $8.50 a
00:18month for a one-bedroom apartment, which is very little.
00:29This is my living room. I don't really have a decorating plan. All this furniture is either like, you know,
00:36from Target or Craigslist or given to me.
00:39This chair I found on the street. My desk and my chair are from Craigslist.
00:44The only thing that I actually bought with any intention is this ridiculous chair that's shaped like a hand.
00:49When people see this chair they're normally like, whoa, is that comfortable? And it is, so don't worry about it.
00:56It's pretty silly and I feel like it's the kind of thing that's like really hard to square away with
01:01like a roommate.
01:01Every other person I've lived with or like guy I've dated has been really into like the minimalist thing.
01:08Werner Patton chair, cowhide rug. I kind of just like stuff that makes me happy.
01:14A lot of the things that are on the walls are either art that people have given me or I've
01:19purchased.
01:20I am a writer and a comedian. I was an art critic for like seven years before I got seriously
01:26into comedy. I love it.
01:28This print is by an artist and a dear friend of mine named Megan Gordon.
01:33That is actually my hand doing an awkward dance.
01:36I like the contrast of stuff that is really nice that I've like paid to get framed versus like stuff
01:42that I just threw up there.
01:43There's three closets and they're all big.
01:47This is the first one where I hang all my coats for these harsh LA winters.
01:52I have a thing for cheeseburgers and hot dogs. My phone is a hot dog.
01:58Cheeseburger piggy bank. Purse in the shape of a Pink's hot dog.
02:01My favorite is in the kitchen. This is President Little Hamburger Man.
02:06And it's actually a marionette puppet that my boyfriend made when he was a kid.
02:13Kitchy stuff has always been something I've been into. Just stuff that's shaped like other stuff.
02:18Oh, a purse that's shaped like lips. Here's a teapot that's shaped like an elephant.
02:23I just really like it and it brings me joy to have silly things around.
02:29The floor in this place is like a really gross vinyl floor from the 70s.
02:33So I actually paid my own money to just put like a slightly cuter vinyl floor in here.
02:39The thing about this kitchen is that it's very small and these are fake drawers.
02:45Everything's kind of out in like jars and on the walls.
02:50Mostly this is a place for more stuff because not a whole lot of cooking goes down in here.
02:55This is a pantry but the bottom is the comedy cubby.
03:00Props or costumes or anything that I need to use for my act.
03:03A fake mustache, fake blood, nipple pasties.
03:07Laugh at me because I'm different.
03:09I laugh at you because you're all the same. And I bought two.
03:13I can't even get in there without like having a bunch of stuff spill out.
03:17Come this way. This is the hallway which is just more of a liminal space.
03:22This is closet number two and it's the biggest one and it's where I shove things before people come over.
03:29Such as yourself.
03:30And then here is the bathroom which is pretty small as well.
03:34This is really where the magic happens.
03:37Nothing too fancy about it.
03:39My favorite part though is the floor which I also paid to have the floor done myself.
03:44This whole place is cheap enough to make it worth it.
03:46Finally got to go to Linoleum City.
03:48This giant warehouse that only sells like different types of floor.
03:52A lot of the fun floors were really expensive.
03:54So I went to the scrap section and there was just this scrap of flooring that was like leftover from
03:59an airport bathroom.
04:00I spent a lot of time looking at it.
04:03Here is the bedroom.
04:08Some of the most sentimental pieces in my apartment are in this room.
04:12The paintings on the wall.
04:13The one at the top there is a painting that I did when I was like 12 or 13 years
04:18old.
04:18The more I look at other paintings the more I realize that was a great painting that I did.
04:22The final walk-in closet is here in the bedroom.
04:26Oh look it's more clothes and shoes.
04:29There's no light in here so I can only open it during the day.
04:33I found this place through a friend of a friend.
04:37There was an artist I was working with at the time.
04:39His assistant overheard that I was looking for a place to live and said,
04:43Oh, I live in this really great little building and it's very cheap.
04:46The apartment at the end of the hall has been empty for like a month.
04:48I called the owners.
04:49I just said, I'm gonna move in.
04:52I think I was here for like a full week before the owner actually came by with the lease and
04:59we signed it.
05:00By far the best way to find a place in LA is to just know somebody who knows somebody who
05:05knows a guy who knows a girl.
05:06Everyone else who lives here has lived here for a very long time and we're very neighborly.
05:11There were a few times when I first moved in that my neighbor would knock on the door and be
05:17like,
05:17Hey, I made too much ziti so you should come over and eat some of this ziti.
05:23I think because the building is small and everyone's pretty close together it feels more neighborly than most places I've
05:29lived.
05:29I do live here alone.
05:31Santi is my boyfriend and we actually tried living together here.
05:37We nearly drove each other nuts because this place is very small.
05:40So he has his own place now and we are sort of regrouping and trying to figure out how to
05:46make it work.
05:47We both work from home.
05:49I feel like the only thing that can make this space work for us is getting like a separate like
05:53studio or office space.
05:55Which would kind of cancel out saving money on rent.
05:59But saving money on rent should not be the primary reason for moving in with someone in the first place.
06:05Reconciling like love and real estate in Los Angeles is a cruel math and we're still trying to figure out
06:15how to do that.
06:15My favorite part of this neighborhood is that it's very walkable within like three blocks.
06:23There is coffee, breakfast, a nice bar and a 24 hour taco stand and the train station.
06:30So why I would go anywhere else in the city is beyond me.
06:42Well thank you for coming over and checking out my sweet digs.
06:46You can watch more videos here or subscribe there.
06:52And I'm going to check my email but I will see you around.
06:56.
06:57.
06:57.
06:57.
06:57.
06:57Yeah.
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