Real Estate

There is perhaps no greater American monument to the War in the Pacific than Ford Island in Hawaii's Pearl Harbor. The naval base there with its old hangars, runway and control tower - some still showing damage from the Japanese attack that brought the United States into World War II - is on the National Register of Historic Places. Dotted around the island's 450 acres are memorials to the battleships Arizona, Utah and Oklahoma, which were sunk. Docked near the Arizona's submerged hull is the Missouri, the legendary battlewagon and scene of Japan's formal surrender on Sept.

Look for commercial real estate coverage on Tuesdays starting Feb. 24.

For a while, it seemed as if the real estate industry was rolling out an app a day, each and every one promising to "revolutionize the way homes are bought and sold," as their news releases routinely and breathlessly promised. The hyperbole has abated a bit, and the pace of introductions seems to have slowed proportionately, but there's still plenty of app activity because consumers have come to expect information about homes on demand. These days, house hunters routinely hit the streets armed with their smartphones, expecting to be able to stand in front of a house on Elm Street and learn everything from the listing price to the property taxes to the square footage in the powder room and more.

Sunroad Enterprises appointed Michael D. Gay as vice president of real estate.

WASHINGTON — Although the news spotlight has been on the presidential debates and the Nov. 6 elections, a more pressing personal issue for large numbers of homeowners across the country involves the lame-duck congressional session scheduled to begin Nov. 13. Along with the federal budget, billions in tax increases, draconian spending cuts and efforts to avoid the "fiscal cliff" looming Dec. 31, the lame-duck session is expected to answer what's...

Top-ranked Alabama rested at home as four other undefeated top-10 teams from the Southeastern Conference jumped straight to 2014 and staged their own four-team playoff. It's always pre-Copernicus down South, where the sun revolves around the SEC. Highlights from other games — West Virginia at Texas, Miami at Notre Dame, Nebraska at Ohio State — could be revisited on TV wrap-up shows. Geno who? Notre what? Florida State was where? The question we wanted answered Saturday was "Who is No. 2?"

CARACAS, Venezuela - Jesus Ramirez is taking no chances. He and his wife bought several pounds of fish and beef at the Mercal state-run grocery store in Caracas' Trinidad barrio the day before Sunday's presidential voting, just in case postelection chaos descends on the country. "The supermarkets are cleaned out of candles, batteries, bottled water, even prepaid telephone cards," said Ramirez, a real estate broker who lives in the blue-collar Catia barrio. "We're all stockpiling things in case they become scarce.

The El Royale apartment tower in Hancock Park, a magnet for celebrity tenants since the Jazz Age, has sold for nearly $30 million in what may be the largest price-per-unit sale in Los Angeles history. The 12-story building, at 450 N. Rossmore Ave., was built in 1929 for the Hollywood crowd, and early residents included Clark Gable, William Faulkner and Loretta Young. It was designed in a mix of Spanish and French Renaissance styles by the same architect who created the famous Chateau Marmont hotel in West Hollywood.

About 20 miles beyond the red-tile roofs of downtown Santa Barbara, it begins: the rolling blond hills that go indecently green in spring, the massive estates and miniature horses, the sprawling vineyards and "Sideways" scenery, the dude ranch with 10,000 acres, the old stagecoach stop with boar on the menu and bikers in the parking lot .... Santa Barbara County's wine country has a lot to offer. The nine micro-itineraries that follow are a quick introduction for newcomers, part of our ongoing series of Southern California Close-Ups.

I was lying next to the Older Man in bed, our limbs barely touching in the nighttime heat. We'd come back to my place after a hillside party off Mulholland Drive, a raucous bash crowded with his music industry colleagues. Woozy from shots of Bacardi and too much time in the hot tub, I whispered a question that had been swirling in my head for weeks. "So, what are we?" The Older Man rolled over and exhaled, his eyes half-closed. It was after 3 a.m., and he was leaving on a business trip the next day. "Look, I'm going to be in meetings all week," he said, in quiet tones that I mistook for tenderness.

WASHINGTON - The nation's unemployment rate fell below 8% in September for the first time in 3½ years, giving President Obama a boost in the wake of his sluggish debate performance and suggesting the economy may be a bit stronger going into the final months of the year than previously thought. Overall, employers added 114,000 net new jobs over the month, a relatively modest figure but in line with what analysts had expected. Job growth for July and August was revised considerably higher than previously reported, to 181,000 and 142,000 respectively, the Labor Department said Friday.

SACRAMENTO - The last time one party held a two-thirds majority in the California Senate, President Johnson was sending troops to Vietnam, Los Angeles was recovering from the Watts riots and the state's governor was named Brown - Pat Brown. That was 1965. Nearly half a century later, Democrats hope they are on the verge of again winning a supermajority in the upper house when voters go to the polls next month to fill 100 seats in the Legislature. With a gain of two seats, the Democrats would have it, putting them halfway to their goal of nearly absolute power over California's policies and finances.