A group of darling houses in Los Angeles have acquired something of a cult following. Featuring multiple gables, steep-slope roofs, arched doorways, and trowel-swept stucco walls, these six-room storybook cottages are “a unique time capsule of the 1920s,” according to the development’s website. Known as Janes Village, the homes nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains are still highly desirable today. But few people know that the entire village was a con, and the man who built the houses was a con artist. With his beguiling gray-green eyes…
