Save the 5212 Melrose Avenue Bungalow Court, a National Register eligible landmark in distress
Originally published 1/10/2024. Demolished 6/14/2024. More below.
Gentle reader,
In 2016, Las Vegas developer Steven Molasky of Molasky Ventures expanded into the Hollywood market with the purchase of a fully inhabited 7-unit Spanish Colonial Revival bungalow court located just east of Paramount Studios. The neglected property traded hands for $2.6 Million, a tear down price.
Although not a protected landmark, Rosemel Court (architect A.E. Wright, 1921-22) is listed as an historic resource in the city’s own Survey LA database as an “excellent example of a 1920s bungalow court… intact examples of the property type are increasingly rare.”
Despite the high price, Molasky’s plan was not to demolish the bungalows —not all of them, at least. His land use consultants hit the Neighborhood Council circuit with a plan to restore and convert the inward facing units to boutique hotel rooms and demolish the back unit for a tower with parking and more hotel rooms. The commercial billboard would be replaced with an art installation, as Molasky was an art patron.
But there were problems—so many it seemed odd that an experienced developer hadn’t anticipated them.
• Transforming a residential parcel into a hotel would require a conditional use permit (CUP), and a zone variance for increased traffic. Neither was guaranteed.
• Because the low-income, senior, immigrant tenants were unlikely to be able to afford anything else in Hollywood, where many RSO units are illegally listed on Airbnb, tenants’ rights advocates rushed to help them stay put.
• Then there was the matter of the driveway, or lack thereof. A character defining feature of 1920s-era bungalow courts is that they were built in proximity to public transportation, and that instead of garages, these inexpensive rental properties offered communal green space. While a driveway had later been poured on the east edge, it was a narrow, non-conforming one with use grandfathered in. There was no way it could serve two-way hotel traffic onto busy Melrose Avenue.
Before any permits could be issued, the community—including residents of the sister 1921 bungalow court just behind this one—was going to get a chance to weigh in.
And when the project was presented to the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council’s land use committee in September 2017, members were unimpressed by the pitch and appalled by the mistreatment of the vulnerable tenants and neglect of the historic buildings. They recommended against approval of the project.
Then in April 2018, the NC voted to support a historic landmark nomination prepared by tenants’ rights advocate Susan Hunter. You can read it here.
After this rejection, the developer changed lobbyists, and sent Dana Sayles of three6ixty, a division of Englander Knabe and Allen, to present in February, April and August 2019. The project finally got reluctant support ahead of a Zoning hearing.
In June 2018, Molasky had filed an Ellis Act application to get the tenants out of all 7 units, using the widely abused state law that allows displacement when a landlord wishes to get out of the rental business. It is a major contributor to the rise in homelessness in Los Angeles. Full rent was not being collected because the property was in such poor condition, but even under REAP it continued to generate income from the double-sided Clear Channel billboard at the front of the lot.
Years went by with no news of when work might begin on the boutique hotel. The tenants were still there, and in 2019, lobbyist Alchemy was paid to attend hearings on the ongoing housing violations.
In October 2022, LA Housing Department GM Ann Sewill recommended that the bungalow court be removed from REAP, claiming that the ongoing neglect of the rental units had been corrected. We doubt that this is true, but as they always do, City Council complied.
While the tenants appear to have left, the property doesn’t appear on the Ellis Act Evictions map, and there is a question of if these 7 units have truly been removed from the city’s affordable housing list. [update 1/11/2024: While a property is in REAP, the Ellis Act cannot be applied. Further, it does not appear that Ellis was properly invoked here.]
But Molasky didn’t fare so well when Zoning Administrator Jack Chiang considered the hotel project (see the full file at ZA-2017-3165-CU-ZV-ZAA) in 2019. After the hearing, the conditional use permit was denied, with a lengthy, detailed list of reasons why the proposal was unsuitable for the site, would harm the community and was in violation of city planning rules and directives.
Steven Molasky was put on notice: he had purchased an historic bungalow court and he better treat it right. A few months later, the firm’s old Vegas founder and Steven’s father, Irwin Molasky, died, aged 93.
Although those who attended the Zoning hearing understood that the hotel project was being pulled and Steven Molasky intended to hand the property off to a sibling to manage, there was no public announcement of a change in plans. So neighbors and lovers of this type of architecture have assumed that restoration was still planned for the 5212 Melrose bungalow court.
But as of December 29, 2023 when a little birdie shot the horrible photos below, the bungalow court was wide open, heavily tagged, and at immediate risk of being lost to one of the convenient and sometimes deadly fires that too often happen to vacant historic properties whose owners don’t care about them.
On the same date these photos were taken, a complaint was filed with LADBS for “Abandoned or vacant building left open to the public.” Building inspector Jaime Rios wrongly closed the complaint out, citing “no violation.”The LA Housing Department did the same for a complaint of “building and/or premises unsafe, or unclean, Trash, debris, and/or discard items stored on premises.”
Looking deeper into LADBS records, we found that in the last few months, a number of permits have been filed for 5212 Melrose Avenue—to demolish the bungalow court, with no proposed replacement project and no community outreach. These demo permits have not been approved.
Having gone through the public hearing process, Molasky knows the community has strong feelings about these bungalows, and that the city considers them worthy of preservation. Demolishing them is simply unacceptable. Why not go back to the drawing board for a smaller project that the city and neighbors would support?
For various reasons, Susan Hunter’s landmark nomination was never submitted to the city. It makes a compelling argument for designation. She explains the importance of this housing type for the city’s development, references the architect’s other bungalow courts including one on the National Register, describes original interior features and includes biographies some colorful residents.
Among those residents was the actress Lila Leeds, whose promising career was destroyed after she was arrested with Robert Mitchum on a marijuana charge. In the 1970s, she operated a small church, The Spiritual Mission, Inc., Laymen’s Evangelist (SMILE), and hoped to buy the bungalow court to be a safe home for addicts and others experiencing trauma.
If you care about the pretty bungalow court that Lila Leeds saw as a place of healing and safe refuge, you can help save it. Here’s how.
5212 Melrose Avenue is located in CD13, represented by Hugo Soto-Martinez. His office has the power to halt demolition and to direct LADBS to secure the property. He can also make a motion asking the Office of Historic Resources to prepare a landmark nomination. Susan Hunter’s nomination is a great starting point.
Please send an email to Councilmember.Soto-Martinez@lacity.org and/or call his City Hall office at 213-473-7013, and say something like this (using your own words):
“I am concerned about the bungalow court at 5212 Melrose Avenue, because it is vacant, unlocked and covered in graffiti, but LADBS and LAHD both wrongly closed out complaints. Also, the property owner is currently seeking demolition permits after seeking to remove the tenants under the Ellis Act, promising to restore the bungalows as a boutique hotel. That project was rejected by the Zoning Administrator in 2019. There is no proposed new project. I want councilmember Soto-Martinez to protect this historic bungalow court from demolition, to get LADBS to fence and board up the units so they are not destroyed by trespassers, and to nominate this National Register eligible property as a city landmark.”
And if after contacting CD13 you’re still riled up, why not send a message to Steven Molasky (via his media contact Pamela Puppel) letting him know that Angelenos love this bungalow court and want him to take care of it?
A bungalow court can stand for 100 years as affordable, desirable housing, and it can be destroyed in a few hours. Just the other side of Paramount Studios, another Spanish Colonial Revival bungalow court was recently demolished without valid permits. It was the inspiration for our popular bungalow court mapping project.
Let’s channel all the love Angelenos have for these lovely buildings and all our rage over their loss as affordable housing, and tell Hugo Soto-Martinez to save 5212 Melrose Avenue.
How great would it be to have the bungalow court fenced and secured, with the councilmember’s support for preserving it, in time for the February 25 CicLAvia Melrose event that will pass right out front?
update 1/11/24: At last night’s Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council meeting, CD 13 deputy Karla Martínez stated that the bungalow court has now been fenced. We have emailed her to ask if this was done by the city or the property owner.
Update 1/27/24: The fence is standing wide open, as are the units. We shot some video and have again asked Council District 13 to instruct LADBS to properly board up and fence the bungalow court.
Update 2/11/24: We went back to find the sidewalk fence secured with a new lock, but the state of the bungalow court remains of great concern.
Update 2/14/24: Public pressure works, so please keep letting CD13 know that you care. LADBS now has the previously wrongly closed code violation listed as “under investigation.” However, as as seen in the video shot above, while the fence has been better secured, the units were still wide open to the elements and stray cats are walking in and out.
Update 2/18/24: The LADBS code violation page now includes an abate order with the effective date 3/1/2024, and a description of the offending property conditions: “The building or premises is Substandard due to inadequate sanitation caused by general dilapidation or improper maintenance.”
Update 3/10/24: We visit the site and find new city signs and new tagging on the clear channel billboard. And in press clips, Empty Los Angeles asks: Why is Hugo Soto-Martinez Allowing Demolition of 7 RSO bungalow court units at 5212 Melrose With NO Replacement Project?
Update 4/28/2024: Less than a month after we visited the bungalows and saw no demolition notifications posted, on 4/9/2024 the city granted demolition permits for “four” units (there are seven on the parcel). We shot new video showing feral cats inside the bungalows, whose lives are threatened by the proposed demolition. And we call out the newly posted real estate listing, seeking to sell .29 acres of vacant “commercial” land once the rent controlled units are demolished. We’re urging concerned Angelenos to contact Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez and tell him to save these affordable units—and save the cats!
Contact: Councilmember.Soto-Martinez@lacity.org or 213-473-7013
Update 4/14/24: Concerned community members alerted us to demolition happening at Rosemel Court, and a little birdie documented the fresh ruins of seven RSO units that for 102 years stood proud beneath the warm California sun. These homes were destroyed by an out of state developer, peeved after being thwarted in his hotel scheme. But the fault is the city’s. We must demand existing affordable housing is protected at all costs. It is a housing use crisis, and it is wrecking Los Angeles.
Update 11/14/24: Our newsletter shares recent video of the cleared lot, broken relics and surviving cat colony.
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
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Loved this story very much
Bungalows are the best. They are not pretentious just warm and welcoming
In my opinion
Keep up the good work
Babs
It says something about Hollywood at that time that Leeds got her career ruined by smoking pot but Mitchum's reputation not only remained intact but somehow became more viable.