[Image of Buena Vista Lofts by Maxwell Harwitt]
1) Rehab, Part 1: More Hollywood gentrification. A reader writes in to let us know one of the Capital Records building's neighbors is getting a pretty nice upgrade: "Building on Franklin just west of Capitol Records, north side at Cahuenga/Ivar, being rehabbed. Really nice building. Chan Dara might have been the Thai restaurant in the ground floor at one time." According to Globe St, the renovations don't just include an upgrade for the electrical and plumbing systems. What's the point of gentrification if it doesn't include a "yoga studio, a regional coffee franchise and neighborhood retail services"?
2) Rehab, Part 2: A few months ago we featured an email from a reader who's wanderings through the Buena Vista lofts looked like our worst B-movie-set-in-an-abandoned-hospital-and-occupied- by-sadistic-flesheating-zombie-surgeons nightmare (hey! someone call Shonda Rimes and/or George Romero - we've suddenly got a brilliant pitch idea!). To be fair, our reader writes us back to tell us:
Well, the developer contacted me to present his side of the gentrification, rehabilitation argument, which I thought only fair to post on my site. He states a number of corrections and talks about the process of development and the problems he runs into, as well as a little on how he is trying to help the community. Apparently, existing structures will not be torn down, and a good portion of those on the waiting list are from the surrounding neighborhood. Just thought it'd be pertinent to share. Here's the link.Consider it shared.