Status quo? approaches to preservation vary.

Historic preservation overlay zones may be generating controversy in the battle over how to preserve the integrity of older buildings, but it's hardly the first type of action taken by communities to preserve neighborhood character.

Over the last 30 years, cities all over Los Angeles County have enacted various ordinances, set up design review boards and dangled incentives for property owners and developers--all aimed at making sure that any development is sensitive to existing dwellings and residents.

The tendency to enact these and other similar measures has ebbed and flowed over the decades, usually heating up during a boom in the real estate markets when there are intense development pressures and then easing up afterwards.

"(Residents) want to preserve the character of their neighborhoods, whether or not they meet the definition of historic." said Bill Fulton, publisher of the Planning and Development Report and a Ventura city councilman.

During the most recent boom, the focus has been on design codes and blanket restrictions on neighborhoods, but that stands in contrast to tactics dating from the post World War II period, when the prevailing attitude was to tear down older structures and put up new more modem ones.

All that began to change, though, when in 1962 the city of Los Angeles took a second look at the wrecking ball and passed the first historic preservation ordinance of any major city in Southern California.

The ordinance, passed two years before a similar one in New York City, essentially required a six-month delay for a demolition permit for any property deemed a historic landmark. That breathing period was designed to give time to come up with a plan to save or move a landmark, though after the waiting period the demolition permit could be granted.

Later historic preservation ordinances, including one in Santa Monica, allowed for a ban on demolition even without the property owner's consent. But these ordinances were only one approach that dries used to try and direct development.

During the real estate boom of the mid1970s that ultimately led. to backlash of Proposition 13, community activists began to use the just-passed California Environmental Quality Act to challenge the scope of some developments.

They would use the act to raise concerns about a project's impact on the environment, which included the surrounding neighborhood. This forced developers to write environmental impact reports, further delaying the projects.

Meanwhile, historic preservation advocates pushed for the creation of special commissions and advocacy groups to stop the demolition of specific historically or culturally significant structures. The Los Angeles Conservancy, for example, was launched in 1978 in response to the proposed demolitions of the Los Angeles Central Library and the Wiltern Theatre. The group brought community pressure to bear to preserve both of these buildings.

Tax relief

On the other side of the ledger, the state Legislature passed the Mills Act, which gave local governments the authority to offer tax relief to owners of properties deemed historic, as long as those owners agreed to plow the savings into maintenance and upkeep of the property.

"This is one of the few financial incentives that we have," said Ken Bernstein, the longtime director of the Los Angeles Conservancy who was just tapped by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to launch the new city Office of Historic Preservation.

The residential and commercial real estate boom of the mid-1980s saw several forces converge. While community activists honed their techniques and used the state environmental quality act to tie up projects in court for years, worsening traffic congestion resulted in broad anti-growth measures passing throughout the region.

The most significant of these was Proposition U, which L.A. city voters passed in 1986. It put strict limits on the square footage of commercial space that could be developed in the city. Proponents were vocal in their view that rampant development was mining the character of their neighborhoods.

Builders tried to fight these measures at the ballot box and in the court. They labeled them as examples of the "Not in My Backyard," or NIMBY, syndrome that was making housing more expensive, pushing it out of reach for most residents in the region. Then the real estate market collapsed in 1991 and the issued faded.

Meanwhile, other communities were tackling a slightly different but related issue: "mansionization." In the mid-- to late-1980s, many property owners seeking to maximize the value of their property decided to tear down their bungalow-sized homes and erect large homes that filled most of the lot or were multiple stories.

This prompted cities like Glendale to enact design review ordinances, which not only limited the mass of structures in relation to the size of a lot but set up special boards to review them to ensure that they were in keeping with the character of the community.

"The purpose was to look at the scale, the configuration and the compatibility of each project, to make sure it didn't stand outside what the community regarded as acceptable," said Arlene Vidor, president of the Glendale Historical Society.

Some design review boards went to extremes, including one famous case in Orange County in which a home painted "egg-shell" white was deemed out of character with surrounding homes. But others have tended to be less restrictive, allowing most projects to go through. "It all depends on who's on these design review boards," Fulton said.

Development pressures

The mansionization issue has not gone away, however. It has resurfaced in recent years during the residential real estate boom, especially in areas filled with tract homes, like Sun Valley.

"It's really a sign of pent-up demand, where homeowners want bigger homes but can't afford to buy them outright," said Holly Schroeder, chief executive officer of the Greater Los Angeles-Ventura chapter of the Building Industry Association, which is an opponent of many restrictions.

Mansionization opponents disagree, saying that the real motive behind the tear-downs and rebuilding with larger homes is to maximize the profit at resale. Whatever the case, the teardowns resulting from mansionization have provided some of the impetus for the latest tool of historic preservation and neighborhood advocates: historic preservation zones. The other major factor is the move towards infill development as environmental opposition has put a stop to much of the development on the outer fringes.

As development pressure mounts in established communities, it is impacting people living in post-war bungalows and ranch houses. And many developers, chastened by years of prolonged struggles to get their projects approved, have begun to accept the inevitability of neighborhood preservation measures; some have even welcomed them.

"It all comes down to what the driving force is behind the action the community is trying to take. If people are genuinely interested in finding a way to provide housing that fits in with the community, we want to work with them. But there are plenty of times when these efforts are no-growth efforts in disguise," said Schroeder.

One developer who has decided it's best to take a cooperative approach has been Daniel Sullivan, a principal in Navilus Development, which specializes in the reuse of historic buildings, including the Mayan Theatre and the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange buildings.

Sullivan said he conducts an architectural review of buildings up front, before the design phase. Then he takes preliminary designs out to the community, seeking input.

"You're never going to make everybody happy. There are those who want these buildings kept as museums with absolutely nothing going on. But these buildings can be reused in a way that's compatible with the surrounding community," Sullivan said. "That's the key realization that people have come to."

Ambassador Hotel

Status Check: Being turned into a high school

Designed by architect Myron Hunt--also responsible for Occidental College, the Rose Bowl and the Pasadena Public Library--the 500-room Ambassador Hotel opened on Wilshire Boulevard in 1921. The hotel's nightclub, the Cocoanut Grove, attracted Hollywood's brightest stars, including Bing Crosby, Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra. The hotel hosted the third Academy Awards, where the gold en Oscar statuette was unveiled. But the Ambassador became notorious as the site where Senator Robert Kennedy was shot in 1968 by Sirhan Sirhan in the pantry off the Embassy Ballroom.

The hotel was closed in 1989. The Schine Family sold the Ambassador in 1990 to a partnership that included Donald Trump, who wanted to build a skyscraper on the site. Then the Los Angeles Unified School District bought the Ambassador in 2001 and won approval to construct a school there while retaining a few historic elements. The Cocoanut Grove will become an auditorium, and sections of the pantry where Kennedy was assassinated are slated for storage. Demolition began last year.

PERINO'S

Status Check: Becoming apartments available for lease next year.

Alexander Perino, a restaurateur who arrived in Hollywood via Italy in 1925 to wait tables at some of L.A.'s top eateries, opened Perino's restaurant in 1932 on Wilshire Boulevard. Several years later, he moved Perino's two blocks to a grocery market stylishly revamped by architect Paul Williams. In 1954, a fire ravished the inside of the restaurant, and Perino rebuilt it incorporating such accents as pink linen table cloths and pink roses on table tops -to match the pink exterior.

Hollywood's finest were Perino's regulars. Bette Davis had a standing reservation, Frank Sinatra tickled the ivories and Cole Porter reportedly wrote a song on the flipside of a menu. Perino sold the restaurant in 1969 and attempts to rekindle its old glamour failed. With the exception of the occasional party and film crew, Perino's closed to the public in 1986.

Carey & Kutay Development Group bought Perino's in 2002 for $4 million. Last year, work started on an estimated $24 million, 47-unit apartment complex. Killefer Flammang Architects has designed the apartment building in a Spanish Colonial Baroque style, although Perino's original sheet-metal awning, porte cochere and neon sign will remain as a tribute to the look of times gone by.

BROWN DERBY

Status Check: Last remaining Brown-Derby building saved after a campaign by preservationists.

According to one version of the story of how the Brown Derby came to be, screenwriter Wilson Mizner chided Herbert Somborn, the second of silent film star Gloria Swanson's six husbands, "if you know anything about food, you can sell it out of a hat."

Taking the dig seriously, Somborn, with friend and restaurateur Robert Cobb, in 1926 opened the first of a handful of Brown Derby restaurants on Wilshire Boulevard in what is now Koreatown. A decade later, the Brown Derby moved into a larger hat-shaped venue less than a block away. Brown Derby restaurants were also in Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Los Feliz.

The Los Feliz restaurant was opened in 1941 and is the only one still standing. Cobb famously created the Cobb salad at the Brown Derby in 1937 by putting together remnants from the fridge. During the Brown Derby's heyday, many a celebrity heeded the restaurant's call, "Eat at the hat."

Will Rogers, Mary Pickford, Lucille Ball and Rudolph Valentino were among those who dined at the restaurant. The original Brown Derby closed in 1980, and remnants now sit at a mini-mall.

The Brown Derby in Los Feliz later became Michael's and is currently the home of the Derby nightclub and Louise's Trattoria. Adler Realty Investments Inc. had proposed to construct condos at the site, but the City Council voted in May to designate the building a historic landmark.

PALLADIUM

Status Check: At risk for a large development that could include housing, retail and a hotel

Designed by Los Angeles architect Gordon Kaufman on the former site of Paramount studio, the Palladium was a pet project of movie producer Maurice Cohen. He wanted Angelenos to flock to the concert venue for top music performances. Opened on Halloween in 1940, the Palladium became host to some of the greatest acts of its time. Thousands packed the house to listen to Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Les Brown, Harry James and Stan Kenton as World War II was engulfing Europe.

In 1961, the Palladium became the base of operations for Lawrence Welk's television show, and the venue hosted the Academy Awards sporadically between 1954 through 1974. Bands such as the Grateful Dead, the Rolling Stones, the Police and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have played there. Combined Properties Inc. of Beverly Hills is in escrow to purchase the Hollywood Palladium for around $65 million from its current owners Palladium Investors Ltd. Developers have considered razing it to make way for housing, restaurants and retail.

To avoid opposition, there's pressure to find a compromise that will allow development on the parking lot, while retaining the Palladium building.

CARROLL AVENUE VICTORIANS Status Check: Historic preservation measures safeguard the homes from being radically changed or destroyed.

Carroll Avenue features a concentration of Victorian homes in Angelino Heights, east of Echo Park Lake and north of the Hollywood (101) Freeway. The area was originally developed in the 1880s when William Stilson and Everett Hall proposed a subdivision in the hopes of attracting wealthy buyers to the enclave, one of Los Angeles' first suburbs. A nearby cable car line and sweeping views of downtown were selling points. More than a dozen Angelino Heights homes have received Los Angeles cultural historic monument protection, and the 1300 block of Carroll Avenue is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Riding a wave of increased interest in restoring historic buildings and fearing decay of neighborhood assets, residents pushed for institution of a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone to encourage maintenance of all the old homes. In 1983, Angelino Heights was the first area in the city to win HPOZ approval. Community members have been vocal about retaining the area's historic character, even successfully rallying against a developer's proposal to build condominiums. Walking tours of Angelino Heights are held regularly.

GREGORY AIN TRACT

Status Check: A historic preservation overlay zone protects Modernist homes from exterior alterations not consistent with the neighborhood's character.

Architect Gregory Ain, a Boyle Heights-born Modernist in the generation following Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra and Rudolf Schindler, designed 52 houses in Mar Vista with Joseph Johnson and Alfred Day. The homes, part of the first postwar housing tract, were planned in 1947 as the initial phase of a large development that was to include at least 100 residences on 60 acres. The development was never fully completed. The minimalist, single-story family homes that ended up being built were meant to bring Modernism to masses. They had versatile floor plans, with sliding walls, and generous windows so sunlight would pour into the rooms. In 1948, they were advertised in the Los Angeles Times as "Modernique Homes" with "dining facilities easily converted for a bar, buffet or formal serving" and "twice as much built-in closet, wardrobe and drawer space as the average home." But Modernism apparently wasn't that appealing, and the homes were slow to sell. The homes now sell at a premium, and are restored by residents who show a commitment to their historic origins. The Gregory Ain Tract became the first group of Modernist buildings in Los Angeles to receive historic preservation overlay zone protection, limiting changes to home exteriors.

--Rachel Brown

Neighborhood Assistance

Communities and activists in Los Angeles County have taken various approaches to preserving the character of neighborhoods,

* Landmark Status: Declaring specific buildings historic landmarks, either delaying or banning demolition,

* Design Review: Creating boards to ensure that new construction and modifications to existing structures conform to the overall character of the neighborhood.

* Environmental Roadblocks: Use of the California Environmental Quality Act to slow or halt developments that could alter neighborhoods.

* Slow Growth: Passing ordinances that limit total new development.

* Anti-Mansionization: Adopting limits on the size of homes based on a ratio of total floor area to lot size.

* Lowering Taxes: Using the state Mills Act to grant property tax breaks to owners of historically significant structures.

Source: Business Journal research

By HOWARD FINE Staff Reporter