While I prefer my Carpenters in cinematic doll form, the city of Downey will forever memorialize the sappy songwriting duo via these two decrepit apartment buildings, each bearing the names of their biggest hits.
If you kiddos aren't aware of the Carpenters, here's a little history lesson: Once a powerhouse pop act, the squeaky-clean duo were responsible for some of the most reprehensibly corny ballad jams of the '70s (example: this), and their loving (but very strange) brother/sister image didn't help their case.
However, at the height of their fame in 1983, tragedy struck when lead singer Karen Carpenter succumbed to heart failure brought on by a years-long battle with anorexia, a disease that wasn't widely reported at the time. What followed her shocking death were sordid tales of drugs, abuse, and shame, and the Carpenters' legacy morphed into a cautionary tale about the trappings of fame.
So, as you can see, there wasn't a happy ending for pop's sugary sweet duo, making these apartment complexes more unsettling than uplifting. One building covers "We've Only Just Begun," while the other represents "Close to You," the two songs that put them on the map.
Makes me wonder: which building is nicer on the inside? Could it be 'Close to you' because it charted higher?
I also wonder whether the people living here are unaware that their building is stamped with the lyrics from one of music's greatest tragedies.
Also, given the source material at hand, I'd be a little hesitant to live in either of these buildings. Those two songs are the worst, truly insufferable, and I'd find myself inevitably thinking about them on a daily basis. The ghost of Karen Carpenter would haunt me, and there'd be no escaping their evil clutches.
On the bright side, the complexes are actually well-groomed, pretty retro-looking, and apparently attract many Carpenters fans from near and far. So if you're into this sort of thing, do it up!
