ILoveLarchmontBlvd.com
A website about preserving the most charming street in LA
ILoveLarchmontBlvd.com
A website about preserving the most charming street in LA
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Larchmont Boulevard Preservation Ordinance
Councilman Tom LaBonge (CD-4) succeeding in passing a motion of the city council that imposes a 35 foot height limit on all buildings (currently the limit is 45 feet) and requires a 5 foot setback making sure our sidewalks stay nice and wide for strolling and limit the linear street frontage to 50 feet for each business thus encouraging more diverse, small-scale retail.
Click here to view LaBonge’s proposal.
Click on the icon below to read the Los Angeles City Planning Staff Report that recommended approval of the Larchmont Preservation Ordinance.
Larchmont Boulevard is the commercial spine of our neighborhood. We hope this blog will be a source of information and give you an opportunity to share your ideas about the future of the street and the surrounding neighborhood. We are neighbors just like you. We welcome your ideas and comments or Click on the stamp to send an email.
* Welcome to our neighborhood *
Larchmont “Q” Conditions
In 1992, the city council passed a set of restrictions designed to protect the walkable, mixed, and neighborhood-serving commercial nature of Larchmont (as distinct from destination commercial) by limiting the number of financial businesses and restaurants that could operate on the street. The restrictions, known as the “Q Conditions apply to Larchmont Blvd. between Beverly and First Street.
The “Q” Conditions are often cited regarding restaurants on Larchmont. Proponents and opponents of the conditions agree they are not perfect but there is currently no consensus on how and if they should be modified so they continue to be the only planning tool available.
Click here to view the “Q” Conditions.
Mizrahi’s Vision
Click on the following link to read more about Mr. Mizrahi’s vision for Larchmont Boulevard as reported by the Los Angeles Business Journal in June 2008 LABusinessJournalstory.html
links
City Zoning Violation Notices for Larchmont Bungalow
Click icon below to view the October 29 Order to Comply.
Click icon below to view the November 2 Notice of Intention to Revoke Permit.
City Attorney’s Criminal Complaint CriminalComplaint_Filed Copy.pdf
About Us
Who are we? We’re neighbors, just like you. We’re not developers with a grand plan to turn Larchmont into a Grove wannabe. We are volunteers in our local neighborhood associations who got interested in the future of Larchmont because we live here.
About the Blog: We started this site as an information source and welcome thoughtful and appropriate comments. Since we’re not techies, we used a simple program to create this site that does not have a comment filter nor does it require you to register. As a result all the comments are anonymous which has led to some snarky personal attacks. Not surprisingly when those were removed, the commenters when ballistic and started posting their attacks on other sites. So we put them back, those that could be retrieved, and they remain there so you can see what we mean. But in retrospect we realized that was just caving into the bullying and nothing was added to the public discourse on the matter.
So from now on, please note that while all comments are still welcome, since we respect your right to disagree. We reserve the right to delete comments that are abusive, contain swearing designed to offend, are deliberately aimed at attacking others or are troll-like, that is to say primarily intended to provoke others into an emotional response or otherwise disrupt the normal on-topic discussion. And if the authors of those comments choose to post their lies elsewhere, so be it. At least they have to do a bit more work to be mean!
Patricia Lombard
Steve Lewis
Patricia Carroll
We welcome you to join us!
Support LBA Members
Just because you don’t own property on Larchmont doesn’t mean you aren’t entitled to voice in what happens on the street. There’s no better way to express what you want to see on the street than by supporting, and especially not supporting, businesses that contribute to our neighborhood.
Please show your support for the members of the Larchmont Blvd. Association, who have invested thousands of dollars in maintaining the street over the years. Look for the LBA decal in their windows, or the ilovelarchmontblvd.com symbol.
To be vibrant Larchmont needs to have a variety of businesses that offer consumers places to eat, shop, run errands etc. Larchmont is a special place because it was developed as a neighborhood serving street so there’s limited parking that serves the commercial businesses, extra parking flows into the nearby streets something residents experience annual during the Larchmont Family Fair.
Spread the word to others who care about preserving a neighborhood-serving mix of retail stores and restaurants on Larchmont. Please show your support for the members of the Larchmont Blvd. Association, who have invested thousands of dollars in maintaining the street over the years. Look for the LBA decal in their windows, or the ilovelarchmontblvd.com symbol.
Vote with your pocketbook and support Larchmont Blvd businesses who care about the street. Support the members of the Larchmont Blvd Association who pay for the trash removal and street cleaning in addition to working hard to serve you!
Look for the LBA decal in their shop window or the iLoveLarchmontBlvd.com decal.
Click the icon below to view the permit and agreement the Bungalow owners signed agreeing not to have any seating for dining.
Click CovenantFloorPlan107N.Larch.pdf to view the floor plan.
January 10, 2015 -- On Tuesday, January 13th, Albert Mizrahi's "Larchmont Village Partners One LLC," the owner of the Larchmont Bungalow, a restaurant that has been operating illegally since October 2009, will appear before the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee of the City Council around 2:30 p.m. Mr. Mizrahi's restaurant, which has been operating illegally since October 2009, and he and his latest lawyers, now seek to overturn the Central Area Planning Commission’s October 14, 2014, denial of Mr. Mizrahi’s request for exemption from the zoning ordinance on Larchmont Boulevard that limits the number of restaurants. He also asked for a reduction in the parking required and an alcohol license to sell beer and wine.
The case of the Larchmont Bungalow is actually quite simple and straightforward, but the appeal seeks to confuse and obfuscate the facts, a tactic employed by the Bungalow owner and operator from the start. There is nothing in the appeal to support overturning the Central Area Planning Commission’s recent decision. The statements in the application's conclusion are false.
For example, Bungalow attorney Jerold B. Neuman, wrote, “The applicant is not requesting any change of existing use...” But prior to being remodeled into the Bungalow, 107 N. Larchmont Blvd. was a retail use and had been for many, many years. In fact, for decades, it had been Dippell Realty Company. In 2009, the Department of Building and Safety (DBS) permitted Mr. Mizrahi to continue to occupy the building as retail, with take-out food sales.
As soon as the Bungalow opened in 2009, however, DBS determined that there was a change of use from take-out retail to a sit-down restaurant and that this was a violation of the “Q” conditions that govern the zoning on Larchmont Blvd. The "Q" conditions have been in place since the early 1990s and limit the number of food establishments, banks, and real estate offices to preserve the local-serving retail uses on the street.
Fundamental to this latest application for special treatment (already rejected by both the Planning Department and rejected and rejected by the Central Area Planning Commission) is the owner's proposed legalization of his unpermitted change of use from a retail store to a restaurant and the significant impact of that restaurant use on the street. A quick glance at the Bungalow’s Yelp reviews reveals consistent comments about the difficulty of parking on Larchmont. The increased demand for parking generated by restaurants severely taxes the parking available for the retail stores. That is among the reasons that the Bungalow’s request for a reduction in the required parking was also rejected by the Central Area Planning Commission.
The owner/applicant has been in violation of Larchmont's zoning from the start and has made no efforts to correct the violation by operating only the retail and take-out business for which he was permitted by the City. Instead, he sued the City alleging unfair prosecution and that he did not understand the covenant he signed with the City agreeing to operate as a take-out with no tables and chairs. The City won both of those lawsuits, and higher courts refused to hear or grant Mr. Mizrahi's appeals.
Mr. Mizrahi also pleaded guilty to fire code violations for failing to file for a permit with the Fire Department and overcrowding. He is currently on probation and is subject to frequent inspections by the Fire Department. According to a City inspector, the restaurant has been shut down four times for fire code violations since the three-year probation began last year.
Significant City resources have been expended over the past five years to enforce the zoning restrictions on Larchmont. that protect its unique, neighborhood-serving retail The goal and the intent of the zoning -- to protect the street's unique, neighborhood-serving retail businesses and preserve a balance of retail and other uses -- is not unprecedented. Local retail streets exist and thrive in many areas of the City. There is nothing that supports overturning those rules and the Planning Department’s and the DBS's interpretations and enforcement of the rules. The PLUM Committee should deny this latest appeal.
Bungalow Owner Appeal to City Council
When there are more than 49 people, including staff, inside, patrons must line up outside because the Bungalow doesn’t have a permit to operate as a restaurant. Their probation with the city for fire code violations of overcrowding require them to hold patrons outside.