NOHO CHARM PUT AT RISK?

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

While developers line up to capitalize on the booming NoHo Arts District, homeowners say surrounding neighborhoods are fast losing their historic charm.

The economic rebirth of North Hollywood has drawn a wave of builders eager to replace homes of former Hollywood stars with apartments and condominiums.

As city planners work to preserve NoHo's funky arts corridor, residents say historic California bungalows are being demolished at a steady clip.

``We're sinking here, all of us,'' said Sheila Cornell, a former Hollywood animator whose family has owned her La Maida Street bungalow since 1964. ``The city doesn't care about saving any of these houses.''

Though her four-block stretch of La Maida was rezoned for apartments decades ago, neighbors say seven bungalows have been razed in the past year with another 10 slated for demolition.

Last month, neighbors lost an appeal to save a sleeping-porch bungalow once inhabited by the late actress Agnes Moorehead, who played Samantha's mischievous mom in the television series ``Bewitched.'' An 80-foot redwood tree on the property will also be uprooted. The property owner, listed in city and county records as either Mehran Vesdi or Mehran Verdi, could not be reached.

Today city planners will hold a public hearing on a plan to replace three homes and vintage apartments on Bellflower Avenue, Camarillo Street and La Maida Street with 24 condominiums. The developer is listed as Bellflower Camarillo Development, but a spokesperson for the group did not return phone calls.

Apartment industry officials say neighborhoods that shift from homes to apartments are part of the history of large cities, especially given the housing crunch in Los Angeles.

``Certainly we're all in favor of additional housing, with our increase in population,'' said Charles Isham, executive vice president for the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, from the Tarzana office. ``One of the main impediments to new housing is NIMBYs (not in my back yards) and people who want to keep bungalows intact.''

Longtime residents disagree.

``I'm absolutely disgusted,'' said Marty Klein, 60, a La Maida Street homeowner who has lived in the Valley since 1949. ``What I've seen happen in the San Fernando Valley is bordering on criminal.''

Guy Weddington McCreary, whose family settled in North Hollywood in 1886 and who helped draft the area's master plan a generation ago, said that in Los Angeles, history has always taken a back seat to support the developer.

``Once they start putting in apartments into a residential neighborhood, they clean it all out, go right down the line,'' he said.

Early this year, the nonprofit Urban Land Institute released a plan to turn the region into a full-fledged cultural and theater district. At least 1,500 apartments with scores of accompanying stores are in the works.

Residents say they sent a petition and dozens of letters to Councilman Tom LaBonge to protest the teardowns. City officials, who say they never saw the petition, say there's nothing they can do.

The area was long ago zoned for multifamily housing, and they say property owners have a legal right to build apartments.

``I feel really bad for those people,'' said Renee Weitzer, planning deputy for LaBonge. ``What is happening now because of the booming real estate market, those properties are being picked up (by developers) and redeveloped.''

RaMona Fleetwood, a movie industry hairstylist who lives in a bungalow once rented by Carol Burnett, has been active in trying to save her neighborhood from destruction.

Fleetwood said if nothing is done, developers ``will come through with a chain saw and within an hour, (the historic homes and trees) will be gone.''

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, map

Photo:

RaMona Fleetwood, a movie industry hairstylist, has been active in trying to preserve her neighborhood in North Hollywood from developers.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer

Map:

North Hollywood arts district

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