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Inside Track 001: Paper Streets
They never burn, but they always burn.
“Beware! Paper Streets” cautions a sign hung by the Kirkwood Bowl Foundation towards the base of Gould Avenue in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, CA, where I lived lucky for most of 2018 (ed. Inside Track 002 will dive more into why I was there).
A paper street or paper road is a street or road that appears on maps but has not been built. — wiki
Paper streets are used in real estate cons of all sizes. Up in the Hollywood Hills, as these scams go, unsuspecting non-Angelino buyers purchase land on a paper street, sight-unseen, in hopes of building a home. These marks then arrive at their land with an invalid deed and dashed dreams.
Enough of these streets show up on Google Maps, each with a checkered history, replete with fleece, to warrant warning signs around the Canyon.
West Elusive Street was the Laurel Canyon paper street I explored most, at the apex-turnaround of my old running route, off Jewett Drive. Part of…
