Six years after meeting as students at UC Berkeley, Nadine Levyfield and Charlie Marshak were excited to reconnect romantically in Los Angeles as professionals — Marshak as a data scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge and Levyfield as a career services technician at Glendale Community College.
The long-term planners' enthusiasm faded a bit, however, after moving into their first apartment together in Echo Park.
"We were spending all of our money on rent," Levyfield says of the 100-year-old Craftsman she describes as an illegally subdivided dwelling that was plagued by mold, poor ventilation and mice.
