RECAPTURING CANOGA PARK'S CHARM : QUAKE PRESENTS REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY WITH CHANCE TO REVITALIZE COMMUNITY.

Byline: Dennis Love Daily News Staff Writer

There was a time not so long ago when the very notion of ``rehabilitating'' whole neighborhoods in Canoga Park in the west San Fernando Valley would have been considered absurd - not to mention unnecessary.

Canoga Park, after all, was one of the Valley's healthiest and most enduring residential areas, featuring street after street after street of modest, well-kept homes owned by Rocketdyne employees, shop owners and other card-carrying members of the burgeoning suburban middle class.

But as the bustling prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s began to segue into the less certain 1970s and 1980s, the quaint neighborhood streets once thought invulnerable to decay began to show the wearying, tell-tale wrinkles and cracks.

Increasingly dense urbanization and economic misfortune took its toll. Owner-occupancy rates began to drop to as low as 16 percent in some sections of Canoga Park from levels as high as 80 percent in the 1950s.

``Then the Northridge Quake hit,'' said Ellen Michael, a Canoga Park housing activist, standing one day last week in front of a clump of 7-decade-old California bungalows at the corner of Alabama Avenue and Valerio Street. ``It was a devastating blow to this neighborhood . . . suddenly people were faced with a short-term emergency over how to put this neighborhood back together.''

That emergency, as it turned out, also presented a long-term opportunity.

Michael, a former private-sector development expert, now is executive director of the West Valley Community Development Corp., a fledgling nonprofit agency intent on refurbishing and, by extension, revitalizing Canoga Park's old town, an area generally bounded by Canoga Avenue to the east, Farralone Avenue to the west, Saticoy Street to the north and Sherman Way to the south.

The neighborhood was among the first to be developed in the West Valley, and still is sprinkled with Craftsman homes and other examples of ever-rare - particularly in the Valley - early Los Angeles architecture.

The West Valley CDC, in business for one year, already has some $5 million in projects either under way or on the drawing board in Canoga Park. The initiative is designed to rehabilitate existing housing and build new accommodations, all intended to provide affordable housing for lower-income families who already live in Canoga Park.

The money comes from grants, loans, city funds and in-kind services, ``any way we can cobble it together,'' Michael said.

The theory: Making a visual, tangible impact on a well-defined area can generate more investment and redevelopment in the vicinity, creating an economic ripple effect.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick, whose West Valley district encompasses Canoga Park and whose office has supported the agency's efforts, sees the project as a cornerstone for reviving an even larger area: ``You can't revitalize the central business district and attract large employers without quality residential neighborhoods to support them,'' Chick said.

These types of nonprofit efforts have been in vogue for decades in other sections of Los Angeles, especially South Central and East L.A. But the West Valley, by virtue of its traditionally strong economic demographics, is a relative newcomer to such efforts.

``The San Fernando Valley did not have a similar set of tools although it faced a similar set of problems,'' Michael said.

The Valerio bungalow court provides a case in point regarding how the agency hopes to implement its vision. Built in 1927, the group of eight structures is the sole remaining bungalow court in a region that once was dotted with them, occupied by farm workers and similar laborers.

With the help of a $500,000 loan from the Community Redevelopment Agency, the bungalows will be purchased and converted into low-income senior housing, with construction expected to start in 1997. A tattered garage in the rear of the property will be remade into a senior community center.

``This is the type of project that can preserve the ambience of the neighborhood while making a dramatic improvement,'' Michael said.

Other germinating projects include:

The Hart/Alabama Apartments: A $1.4 million, 14-unit town home complex at Hart and Alabama streets, featuring three- and four-bedroom floor plans for very low-income families at monthly rents as low as $410. The West Valley CDC is in escrow on the site and has been awarded a preacquisition loan by the Los Angeles Department of Housing. The project will be submitted for full funding commitments and tax credits later this year.

The Knapp Village Homes: A joint venture with Lutheran Social Services, which has committed $600,000 in grant funds to the $2 million project that will construct eight single-family homes for sale to a mix of lower-income families. The site currently is in escrow, with additional funding commitments made by another nonprofit agency, the Enterprise Foundation, and the Missouri Synod for below-market construction financing. Soft second mortgages that do not have to be paid until the home is resold will be provided by the city housing department. Construction is expected to begin next summer.

The agency also has plans to incorporate social services for residents of the new and revitalized projects through partnerships with other agencies such as Catholic Charities' Guadalupe Center in Canoga Park.

Matt Callahan, acting assistant general manager for the Los Angeles City Department of Housing, said that the city is ``plugged into the vision'' of Michael and the West Valley CDC.

The agency experienced a setback recently when it was not included in the housing department's application for a piece of $30 million in federal grant money for neighborhood revitalization, but Callahan said the city still is sold on the Canoga Park initiative.

The housing department likely will support various West Valley CDC projects over the next 24 to 36 months to the tune of about $2 million to $3 million, Callahan said. Meetings will convene this week to work out details, he said.

``The area has many existing, positive qualities,'' Callahan said. ``But without thoughtful and focused attention right now, it will probably become less and less desirable and the opportunity will be lost.''

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3 Photos

Photo: (1--color) West Valley Community Development Corp . Director Ellen Michael says her group has $5 million worth of projects under way.

(2--color) A woman sweeps the steps outside her bungalow at the corner of Alabama Avenue and Valerio Street in Canoga Park.

(3--color) With the help of a loan from the Community Redevelopment Agency, bungalows along Alabama Avenue are expected to be converted into senior housing.

David Crane/Daily News