Friday, October 17, 2025

The House Opposite That Lights Up At Dawn--good news!

Over the years I've posted many pictures of the House Opposite That Lights Up At Dawn to Presage the Coming of Spring (HOTLUAD).  Recently, things weren't looking so good for HOTLUAD. It was vacant, subject to vandalism and showing a lot of erosion in the hillside below the house. 

HOTLUAD glowed at the opposite end of the year as well, when the sun hit it at the same angle it did in March. So this week we had an opportunity to see how it was doing. 

Verdict: All's well with HOTLUAD!

Someone has been doing a lot of work on it in the last few months. I'm not sure if it's owned by the same people, but two or three lots above it are also being renovated, and a lot of overgrown trees removed. HOTLUAD itself first swapped its brick-red roof (the San Juan Capistrano city-approved color) for slate grey, and then various windows disappeared and reappeared several times (presumably being boarded up and then replaced). Although the famous dumper truck did not come back, workmen's trucks were frequently in evidence along with ladders and suchlike "improvement" technology. 



February 2018

October 2024



August 2025
In August this year, repairs started in earnest. You can see that air conditioning units are being moved in (or out) and all kinds of magic are happening with the all-important windows. 

And today, October 17th:

October 2025
Look at that glow!

Here's a zoom:
October 2025
You can also see how the trees have been trimmed or removed, to the right of HOTLUAD.

I have great hopes for it presaging spring in four months. 









3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is thrilling news, indeed! I've become strangely invested in your postings about HOTLUAD over the years, but had not realized (or perhaps, at my increasingly advanced age, have simply not remembered realizing earlier on) that it was a biannual event. Amazing!!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous? Forsooth. That would be me -- the one with all the extra r's and l's up in Cupertino (as opposed to down in Capistrano) Too weary at the mo' to do the "sign in" thing. Feh! :-(

KaliDurga said...

Hooray! It seems like the grey roof won't accentuate the glow the way the red one did but, regardless, it feels like something is right with the world again. Kudos to those saving it.

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