We asked and you answered. We have an answer to everything which should make us all feel good. Questions for next week? Email us at la@curbed.com.
[image of Ramona Theater from you-are-here.com]
1) North Hollywood: General consensus is that the NoHo area along Magnolia, east of Lankershim, still has a ways to go before it's worth looking at. Per commenter WH-Woody: "Unfortunately, NoHo lacks any buzz restaurants, hip boutiques (a la American Apparel), or interesting places to live. Who wants to move into an "up & coming" 70's crack motel-looking apartment box when you can move into a Highland Park or Elysian Valley craftsman cottage or historic 1940's duplex?" Check back in 10 years.
2) South LA: LA CityNerd redeems himself after whiffing on the "White Spot in the Valley" map question. He answers three questions this week. This is one. We heart you Mr. Nerd. The corner of 55th and Figueroa will be developed with a "21 Unit affordable housing development."
3) Echo Park: The Ramona Theater at 2139 Sunset Boulevard has generated a lot of interest and people want to get in this space badly. Some history via the Echo Park Historical Society: "The building at 2139-2141 Sunset Blvd. was built in 1914 to serve as a movie theater. On the original building permit, the architect is listed as the Alfred Grayson (sp? it's handwritten) Co. The builder was J. Louie Pancoast, who was located down the street at 2121 Sunset Blvd, while the developer lived on nearby Reservoir Street." There's more here. We'll have contact info for you shortly, but as was mentioned previously, there are parking issues. However, with enough variances and support of the Council Office and Neighborhood Council, anything is possible! LaLaLa...
4) Los Angeles: Some of the infamous berds are gone, such as the one at Sunset and Alvarado. The lock and wire remain, however. But mostly, they seem to be holding up.
5) Beverly Hills: Despite one email that said the house had just been knocked down (LIAR!), most people identified it as the Spandea House. Via commenter KateCoe: "The 1921 Spadena House, on the corner of Carmelita Avenue and Walden Drive, looks as if it's melting. The spooky king of all Hansel and Gretel-style architecture features impossibly peaked gables, oddly placed windows and off-balance walls." More info here.
6) Westchester: From commenter Futulion we learn the development is called "Playa del Oro". And from commenter mark: "I looked back into my files on the Furama and in late 2005 the owners had letters of intent from Bodies in Motion, Coffee Bean, Pick Up Stix, and Daphne's Cafe, plus others I can't remember (this was for the ground floor retail in the new apt complex). But this may be out of date as a lot of time has passed and the leasing lineup may have changed, plus LOIs don't mean much until a lease is signed. I know the combo of restaurants and gym (as compared to general retail) were causing a very high parking count at great expense."
7) Hollywood: Commenter Food Marathon has the disappointing news about the cool building (pictured) at the northeast corner of Hollywood & Highland (6777 Hollywood Blvd). "The owner of the Hollywood First National Bank Building has passed up countless offers to be bought out and rented from. Everything from multi-million dollar offers from famous morning TV shows to nightclub/restauranteurs. Unfortunately, he's got the winning combination of being fearfully cheap and lazy. So the building will probably just sit there, barely making safety code every year... it's a shame."
8) Echo Park: We searched and scoured for 30 minutes or so but saw nothing on the internet about Dream Center construction. But Pete of the comments says: "One possibility is that the ministry is doing seismic update work. The hill on which the old hospital sits is prone to landslides, including one in 1978 that destroyed half its parking lot and closed 3 or 4 lanes of the 101. The Department of Building & Safety might well be forcing the Dream Center to reinforce the building to make sure it doesn't come sliding down the hill, and onto the freeway, in the event of the Big One."