In 2017, Hollywood’s Sundown Sq. was named a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone, solidifying its place in L.A.’s architectural historical past. 4 years later, Girl Gaga’s canine walker was shot within the chest exterior a vacant home in the midst of the neighborhood.
A small contingent of Sundown Sq. residents insist the 2 occasions are tied collectively.
A conflict is brewing within the prosperous enclave, the place properties sometimes promote for $2 million or extra. Critics of the HPOZ designation declare the rigorous allowing course of is a burden, inviting crime as initiatives stall and homes keep vacant whereas mired in purple tape. Supporters say the HPOZ is a mandatory ache within the quest for preservation — the one factor stopping Sundown Sq. from turning into one other flavorless suburb stuffed with field homes and McMansions.
Because of approvals and opinions that include HPOZ designation, properties typically sit empty for years with out development progress.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
In the end, it’s a microcosm of a bigger battle enjoying out throughout Southern California as cities ask existential questions in an effort to unravel the housing crunch. What’s value conserving? What’s value tearing down? And the way will we stability the necessity for extra housing with the necessity to protect our historical past?
Developed within the Seventies, L.A.’s HPOZ program serves as a instrument to guard and protect properties in 35 architecturally vital neighborhoods all through the town corresponding to Hancock Park, Highland Park and Angelino Heights, guaranteeing homes can’t be torn down or altered too dramatically. These areas, which embody greater than 21,000 properties, add a further layer of zoning and design evaluate to the town’s typical course of, and owners have to get approval from a board to make sure modifications to the surface of their house.
The aim is easy: Protect the look and legacy of a neighborhood.
A gardener waters the garden from the porch of a Craftsman-style house within the Sundown Sq. neighborhood in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
In a single sense, Sundown Sq. is superbly preserved: Its Craftsman bungalows and Spanish Colonial Revivals are pristine, an Outdated Hollywood time capsule from the early twentieth century when the neighborhood served as a streetcar suburb alongside the Pacific Electrical Railway Line.
However uglier nooks are frozen in time as effectively. Homes left vacant for years. Chain-link fences surrounding half-finished properties. Empty tons strewn with trash.
In HPOZs, builders and owners have to navigate the standard metropolis departments, but in addition the HPOZ board. Skipping a step or working with out approval can stall initiatives for months.
“The unique concept of the HPOZ was to guard the historic nature of the neighborhood,” resident Rachel Mason mentioned. “However for lots of people, that is removed from the utopian concept they thought they had been agreeing to.”
The property subsequent door to Mason’s house was vacant for years, and she or he mentioned it was a sizzling spot for break-ins and drug use. In 2021, she and her neighbors predicted one thing unhealthy was sure to occur by way of e mail exchanges. Weeks later, the canine walker was shot on the road exterior the property.
Mason referred to as it a consequence of letting the property sit empty for thus lengthy.
“It’s the idealism of historic preservation butting up towards the price of human security,” she mentioned.
The Sundown Sq. HPOZ was fashioned within the wake of a controversial home flip — one so brash that it pushed your entire group to rally round historic protections. In 2013, a developer purchased a modest Craftsman house on Curson Avenue for $910,000 together with a be aware promising to protect the house, in keeping with a number of residents.
A person walks by way of the entrance yard of a contemporary fashion house that contains a mural of a leopard within the Sundown Sq. neighborhood in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
Shortly after, the developer bulldozed your entire place, ripped out bushes and erected a 4,700-square-foot field home full with an eight-foot-tall leopard painted by the entrance door that earned it the nickname “the tiger home.” In 2015, it bought for $3.385 million.
“It was an assault on our neighborhood,” mentioned Julee Metz, who lived two doorways down.
The property grew to become a tipping level, and residents corresponding to JoAnn Koplin pushed for historic protections so different properties wouldn’t be demolished. Koplin collected signatures and documented knowledge to assist information the HPOZ utility by way of.
Now she regrets it.
“I’m sorry I did all that work to get the HPOZ in place,” she mentioned. “There are three empty tons inside a block of my home as a result of it takes too lengthy for the town and HPOZ to grant approvals.”
Koplin, an architect, had an issue with strangers stealing packages from her porch or sleeping in her yard, so she constructed a low wall alongside the entrance of her property as a deterrent in July 2024. She mentioned the design of the wall mirrors those round it, however since she didn’t seek the advice of the HPOZ board earlier than constructing it, she acquired an order to tear it down.
JoAnn Koplin, a resident within the Sundown Sq. neighborhood, seems to be over a house that’s being reworked and rests behind a display in Hollywood. Koplin believes homeless folks have been utilizing the property and conceal their actions behind the display.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
The order hasn’t include a tremendous but, and she or he’s unsure what the results shall be if she doesn’t comply. However she doesn’t care.
“It might’ve taken too lengthy to get accredited, so I went rogue,” Koplin mentioned. “They need me to take it down, however I received’t.”
Others aren’t so daring. Kate Brown, a Sundown Sq. resident for 21 years, needed to renovate the low wall exterior her home in 2021, in addition to paint the outside and restore the crumbling stairs getting into the property.
She mocked up plans herself and introduced them to the HPOZ board however mentioned they had been shot down as quickly as she pitched them since she didn’t contain an architect. As for the paint colour, the board vetoed the “ripe currant” colour she needed, saying she might solely use earth tones to match with conventional Craftsman colours.
“I simply needed a brownish purple,” Brown mentioned. “It’s not like I’m portray a tiger on my home.”
Because of this, her wall and sidewalk stay unchanged, and her home is painted the identical shade of purple it was when she moved in.
A girl pushes her child cart previous a house that options prolonged white fencing within the Sundown Sq. neighborhood in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Occasions)
Sundown Sq.’s comparatively current standing as an HPOZ has created an attention-grabbing dynamic of haves and have-nots within the neighborhood, with many exceptions to the brand new guidelines grandfathered in since they had been there previous to 2017. One resident can’t select their home colour whereas one other’s is painted vivid orange. One home can’t have a wall increased than 42 inches on account of metropolis guidelines, whereas one other sits behind a towering hedge.
The itemizing for a $2.2-million house on Curson Avenue brags that the home is tucked behind “a grandfathered personal gate” that wouldn’t be allowed beneath present restrictions.
Metz moved out of the neighborhood in 2019 however squeezed in a 600-square-foot addition shortly earlier than the HPOZ guidelines took impact.
“If we waited till the HPOZ got here, it could’ve been rather a lot more durable,” she mentioned. “We acquired out simply in time.”
Probably the most controversial property within the HPOZ debate is 1547 N. Sierra Bonita Ave. In 2021, a developer purchased the property and began renovating with out approval, together with swapping authentic home windows for vinyl — a grave no-no in an HPOZ, virtually as offensive as a white plastic fence.
The unpermitted work triggered a evaluate from the board, and the place sat vacant for years as neighbors watched unhoused folks take over the property. In 2023, it burned down in a blaze that required 70 firefighters.
The trigger was by no means confirmed, however conspiratorial neighbors be aware that the hearth extricated the proprietor from a cash pit that was drowning in allow violations.
The hearth got here as no shock to Koplin, who mentioned there have been a number of within the neighborhood — to the purpose that she made a map to doc them. The map, which she introduced at a neighborhood assembly, highlighted three home fires, three violent assaults and 11 break-ins within the three blocks surrounding her house.
Discarded alcohol containers left behind on the property of a house that’s being reworked within the Sundown Sq. neighborhood in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
A web based map synthesizing LAPD knowledge reveals that there have been 147 crimes in Sundown Sq. and the speedy surrounding space over the past 180 days together with arson, assault, housebreaking and murder. These numbers aren’t typical for neighborhoods with $2-million properties; nevertheless, they’re typical for Hollywood, and an LAPD officer instructed The Occasions that whereas unhoused folks typically wander by way of the world, there hasn’t been an uptick in crime for the reason that HPOZ took impact.
Jonathan Cowan, who lives just a few doorways down from the property and serves on the HPOZ board, blames the builders who break the principles for why their initiatives are stalled.
“Most initiatives get accredited inside the first assembly,” Cowan mentioned. “When somebody brings a venture that doesn’t meet design evaluate requirements, that’s when it takes endlessly.”
He mentioned the board doesn’t act arbitrarily or use private style. As an alternative, each resolution is quoted based mostly on particular pointers spelled out within the preservation plan, which was drafted and accredited by Sundown Sq. residents.
Some guidelines aren’t well-liked for builders in search of a fast flip, however they’re essential to preserve the neighborhood in contact with its roots. Vibrant colours may pop, however conventional Craftsman properties have earth tones — in keeping with the plan. Twin-pane home windows could be higher for hearth safety, however they don’t retain the historic character of the home — in keeping with the plan.
“The entire level of preservation is to keep up the historic look,” Cowan mentioned. “Don’t purchase a home subsequent to an airport and complain concerning the noise.”
Laura Grenfell, who has served on the Sundown Sq. Neighborhood Group since 2017, mentioned greater than two dozen neighbors have fully renovated their properties beneath the HPOZ with no situation. She added that the historic ambiance has made Sundown Sq. a sizzling spot for movie shoots, and the neighborhood retains an inventory of initiatives shot there, together with “Nightmare on Elm Road,” “Hollywood” and “American Horror Story.”
“Sundown Sq. is sort of a museum within the streets. The HPOZ has allowed it to retain the architectural character that makes it precious not solely to residents, but in addition to L.A.’s historical past, tourism, and movie trade,” Grenfell mentioned. “It does require additional steps, however I feel the advantages far outweigh the inconvenience.”
A spokesperson for the planning division rejected the premise that the HPOZ slows down initiatives and mentioned greater than 90% of functions inside the Sundown Sq. HPOZ undergo an expedited evaluate course of, which means they don’t contain formal hearings earlier than the board.
Out of 127 HPOZ circumstances filed since 2021, solely 4 have required the total evaluate, which entails a public listening to and 75-day evaluate interval. Throughout that point, the HPOZ has accredited 100 smaller functions inside 21 days and in addition accredited 23 ADUs, the spokesperson mentioned.
However for these like Mason, Koplin and Brown nonetheless battling over small tweaks to their properties — paint colours, fences, and so on. — the HPOZ has turn out to be a lesson in being cautious what you would like for.
“It’s a ache in my ass,” Brown mentioned.
