Gentle reader,
Last March, we sounded the alarm about six demolition permits spotted in front of the Hollywood Center Motel, a decaying collection of residential and commercial buildings that ranged from an Edwardian house called El Nido to some of Sunset Boulevard’s best mid-century neon.
Many people have expressed interest in buying the motel property over the years, but the reclusive residents weren’t interested. Now, without it ever being listed for sale, a new owner had control and was seeking to tear everything down—with no new project planned.
Angelenos and distant fans objected to this, as did Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez because the empty housing on the parcel was rent controlled. Hollywood Heritage prepared a landmark nomination. Meanwhile, the buildings were left empty and unsecured. Squatters crawled through the fence and made themselves at home. Taggers practiced their script on the cottages. Urban explorers poked around shooting video. Hoarded possessions left behind by the old owners were strewn across the yard.
At the first Cultural Heritage Commission hearing, concerned citizens and the folks from Hollywood Heritage who presented the nomination all expressed their alarm about the ongoing demolition by neglect and warned the commissioners and the property owner’s representative that if nothing was done to protect the compound, it was going to burn.
And that’s exactly what happened one month later, on a rainy Sunday morning, when the El Nido residence exploded in an extremely suspicious blaze, but did not burn down. But before anyone could stop them, LAFD brought in heavy equipment and destroyed the house. When the CHC president arrived to tour the potential landmark, he found bungalows ringing a smoky ruin.
At the second and final landmark hearing before the CHC, city staff recommended against making the damaged Hollywood Center Motel property a landmark. But the CHC disagreed. They were upset that the house had been left open to burn, and expressed their belief that the parcel still had cultural significance worth protecting.
But when the CHC re-wrote the nomination during their hearing, they only protected the historic elements that are flush against the sidewalk: the tall neon sign and the breeze-block wall. That’s good, but it’s not enough.
If you care about Hollywood Center Motel, please let City Council know by noon on Tuesday 4/14/2026 that you want the property owner to restore the neon letters reading HOLLYWOOD CENTER MOTEL that were stolen after the fire, and that you want the surviving 1922 rent controlled bungalow court units and the kidney shaped pool where the Buffalo Springfield, Captain Beefheart, Janis Joplin and Paul Revere & the Raiders swam to be part of the landmark.
After the house burned and was demolished by LAFD, there is plenty of empty space if the owner wants to propose a new development. We want the history that is still here to be preserved, and the housing units to be cleaned up and rented to locals, or made available for tourists to experience something unique and cool in the heart of Hollywood.
If you’d like to attend the 2pm 4/14/2026 PLUM hearing, the agenda is here. Hollywood Center Motel is item #15, and we don’t know when it will be heard.
Spoken public comment can only be made in person. You can also send an email to the decision makers, and post that email to the Council File.
Send your email to the decision makers before noon on 4/14/2026: councilmember.soto-martinez@lacity.org, Councilmember.Nazarian@lacity.org, councilmember.blumenfield@lacity.org, contactCD4@lacity.org, cd10@lacity.org, councilmember.Lee@lacity.org.
Use this subject line: Accept and Expand the Hollywood Center Motel Landmark Nomination (ENV-2025-6243-CE).
Address your email to: Dear Councilmember Soto-Martinez and PLUM Committee members.
What to say? Speak from the heart about why Hollywood Center Motel matters to you and why you want it to be declared a landmark. If you live in Hollywood or have personal experience with the Motel, say so. If you are angry that the property owner left the buildings unsecured to be vandalized and burn, express that. And most importantly, be sure to say that the landmark designation needs to include the restoration of the neon signs that were stolen after the fire in January and preservation of the 1922 rent controlled bungalow units and the swimming pool, and not just the tall neon sign and breeze-block wall.
Then cut and paste the email you sent and submit it as a written public comment by clicking here.
Thanks for taking a few minutes out of your weekend to speak up for a special place in Hollywood that deserves so much more than to be treated like garbage and demolished for nothing. Let’s remind the City how much we care and help them see how to get this landmark nomination right and get these cool buildings back in use for Angelenos and visitors to enjoy.
The John Fante’s lost Bunker Hill and skid row speakeasy walking tour comes just once a year and it’s this Saturday. After the tour, we’ll serve cake and toast the mad spirits of Arturo Bandini and every hungry kid who came west to flower. Join us, do!
Also, we just added a new date for the very popular Know Your Downtown LA: Bradbury Building, Basements of Yore and the Dutch Chocolate Shop tour on Saturday, June 20, a chance to see Batchelder’s amazing tiled restaurant space that’s rarely open to the public.
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
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Our work—leading tours and historic preservation and cultural landmark advocacy—is about building a bridge between Los Angeles’ past and its future, and not allowing the corrupt, greedy, inept and misguided players who hold present power to destroy the city’s soul and body. If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar, vintage Los Angeles webinars available to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. We’ve also got recommended reading bookshelves on Amazon and the Bookshop indie bookstore site. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING WALKING TOURS
• John Fante’s Downtown L.A. (4/11) • Early Hollywood’s Silent Comedy Legends (4/18) • Downtown Los Angeles is for Book Lovers (4/25) • Highland Park Arroyo (5/2) • Charles Bukowski’s Westlake (5/7) • The Run: Gay Downtown History (5/23) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (5/30) • The Real Black Dahlia (6/6) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (6/13) • Know Your Downtown LA: Bradbury Building, Basements of Yore and the Dutch Chocolate Shop (6/20) • Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness (Sunday, 6/21) • Westlake Park (6/27)
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