OrganizingLA Blog

What Are The 25 Most Organized Cities In America?

Los Angeles tied for number 7 in a survey for the most organized cities in America. How did your town rate?

 

While most of our work is concentrated in Los Angeles, it's really fun to travel and see professional organizing clients outside of the city, or in other states.

Part of the enjoyment of traveling is to hear folks talk about how much they love their city, or the town they grew up in. Until now, we've never heard anyone talk about how organized their city is though.

 

Doxo,  A Seattle-based digital document company just released their list of the Most Organized Cities in America. The doxo Organization Index (dOI) ranks major U.S. cities based on a number of organization factors including:

 

• Recycling rates;
• Individual income tax filing timeliness;
• Junk mail cancellations;
• Concentration of members of the National Association of Professional Organizers
• Sock drawer organization;
• The greatest number of unique providers and documents uploaded in users doxo accounts.

 

While Boston hit the number one spot, residents of the Sunshine and Golden States should have a rosy outlook this spring, with three cities in both Florida and California cities making the top 10. Los Angeles tied for 7th place with San Francisco. How did your city rate?

Wondering How to Plan Your Storage? Take a Cruise

 

One of our organizing clients has an office at Crossroads of the World in Hollywood. 

   

The art deco moderne complex was designed by Robert V. Derrah in 1936 and is often referred to as the first modern shopping center in America.  Various old world cottage bungalows surround one large center building created to resemble a streamline ocean liner.  How cool is that?

It's no wonder streamline created such a design influence, even to this day.  Below in the black and white picture, you can see how the period inspired this West Hollywood-area streamline duplex home.  The home still stands today, we used to walk past it everyday.

Much of 1930s design was borrowed from the golden age of transportation, especially ocean liners.  Ocean liners have long been a source of fascination, not only in their beauty but in their functionality.  A transatlantic voyage in the 1930's and today's "sea cities" have much in common-- tight, functional storage for adventurous passengers.

During the Golden Age of Travel in the 1930s, transatlantic voyagers captured the allure of distinctively designed passenger cabins:  rich woods, fine linens, shiny brass fixtures, flawless service-- all in a postage-sized space with concealed cabinetry, floor-to-ceiling and petite fixtures, this professional organizer's daydream!

Modern day travelers planning a small space can take a design clue from the past and book a voyage on today’s cruise ships.  A shrewd use of space and efficiency where high-style and beauty meet functionality hasn’t really changed in over 60 years.  The principles are still the same.

Let us know about your small-space adventures.  Have you ever traveled on a cruise ship? Was the storage functional (and beautiful) enough for you?

Read more on the Crossroads of the World in Hollywood.

Crossroads - Photos by Floyd E. Bariscale on Flickr

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Testimonial - Palos Verdes Relocation Project

We've pretty much completed a large relocation in the Palos Verdes area of Southern California, a newly built 14,000 square foot home.

An organizing colleague asked us to be part of her team, but her actual attendance was impossible due to another obligation. All the more important that she brought the right people onto the job, folks that would work well together.  We were in charge of unpacking, beautifying and organizing various areas of the home, including the butler's pantry, gentleman's closet, sweater closet, golf supplies, bathrooms, a breakfast room, parts of the three-car garage, and a holiday storage room.

Now that the job is complete, here's a note the lead organizer sent to me this morning:

"Thank you again for your professional and energetic commitment to making the [name omitted] relocation project a HUGE success. As you know, [name omitted] were delighted (and blown away) by everyone's contribution. I look forward to seeing the [name omitted] home now that all the furnishings are in place, and of course, to witness first hand all the great organizing [name omitted] has been bragging and raving about.

As I sit here typing this memo, I am struck by the thought that I am a bit sad not to have been able to work on this project with each of you.

I always enjoy the energetic buzz that a project like this ignites when a group of self-starting and creative organizers pull together, for the common good, to bring order (and beauty) to any given situation.

[Names omitted] are pleased, delighted and grateful. So am I.

One of Mrs. [name omitted] final comments to me was that we are definitely a group of "true professionals."  Thank you again for your integrity and professionalism in making this project a complete success and for representing yourselves, my company and our industry in such a positive light."

Picture above, where Hawthorne Blvd. dead-ends into Palos Verdes Drive West, courtesy Flickr

Beaches and Boats - Snapshots of Redondo Beach & Thoughts of Organized Boating

Anyone who knows me knows I love the beach, and the boats.

Following an organizing project last weekend in Redondo Beach, we stopped at the sand for a few shots.

  Because daylight savings time is here, the thoughts turn to leisure time and ideas to organize your boating.

We offer this clever update on the rusty toolkit typically found on your floating palace.  Discovered in ForbesLife, the Toolpak stores a variety of spares in the 100-pocket (wow) organizer.  The soft case protects your boat floor if you drop it, and the shoulder pack allows for easy movability and multi-tasking.

Organizing Hollywood for the Holidays

The OrganizingLA Blog is starting a new category we call "Cities We Serve."  We'll highlight interesting sections of Southern California, with brief descriptions and pictures we snap while organizing.

This week's feature?  The Holidays in Hollywood.  Here's a glimpse of the view off beautiful Mulholland Drive, not too far from where we're spending a good chunk of this week.

"Picture a tranquil haven in the center of Los Angeles between Downtown, the Valley and the Ocean with green hillsides and foothills dotted with an array of inspiring architecture, quiet meandering streets with canyon and city views colored by lush purple Jacaranda trees, blooming aromatic Jasmine, Gardenia and Crimson Bougainvillea vines. Where you can see Hawks flying overhead at dawn and watch Deer grazing at dusk. That little bit of real estate paradise that stretches along the Santa Monica Mountains bordered by Griffith Park from Silverlake to Sunset Strip often referred to as “An Oasis in the City” is the Hollywood Hills."

The casas homes in the lower picture look strangely Italian, where I visited this fall.  It was the reason I snapped this picture.  I miss Italy and can't wait to return.

Copy credit from Rose Ware & Terry Canfield, Realtors.