Ode to Ed
Ed Van Straten on the left; circa 1975. (photo from Highland Park News Herald) Every day about 7:00 a.m. Ed Van Straten would pick up the two newspapers that had been tossed onto his driveway, climb into his Cadillac, light his first cigarette of the day, stuff three packs of Marboro Red above the driver’s side visor, and ride down the hill to the Jack In The Box drive-thru for his morning coffee. Ed was phenomenal when it came to real estate. He enjoyed every minute of the fourteen hours he put in nearly every day. Before he passed away Ed bought and sold more houses in northeast Los Angeles than anyone, then or now. In 1972 Ingrid and I hoped to become first time home buyers and were in deed fortunate to make friends with Ed. We had no savings, a pitiful income and poor prospects - none of which discouraged Ed in the least. He took us out looking at houses twice a month for nine months until we finally found something that we could qualify for and wasn’t condemned. T