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Residential-Commercial Hybrids: A Relic of Central LA by Damian Gatto i. Los Angeles has a reputation for having erased so many relics illustrating its evolution as a city. To the contrary, the City has (currently) 38 historic preservation zones and more than 1,000 historic-cultural monuments. In addition, the streetscapes of LA’s historic neighborhoods bear a peculiar feature that hints at the humble origins of the City’s most major thoroughfares: residential-commercial hybrids. This article is about the residential-commercial hybrids that line the main streets of these historic neighborhoods. The four districts explored in this article are North Vermont Avenue (as it passes through Koreatown), North Figueroa Street (as it passes through Highland Park), Sunset Boulevard (as it passes through Echo Park), and, as an honorable mention, Virgil Avenue (as it passes through Virgil Village). To clarify, I am not referring to what are known as mixed-used buildings, which are buildings with commercial space on the bottom floor and residential space within the upper floors. The building pattern I am describing here is essentially an adaptive repurposing of residential properties to meet dual commercial-residential functions in lieu of having to demolish and rebuild. Above: My terrible schematic rendition of residential-commercial hybrids, if an example of a RCH were to be viewed from above (i.e. a map view). CLICK "READ MORE" BELOW Above: A question typical of Los Angeles building permits from circa 1905 to the early 1940s: Will the building be erected to the front of the lot or the rear of the lot? First, it is important to note that construction permits in Los Angeles in the early 20th century made clear distinctions as to the treatment of the front and rear of a parcel. In many upscale and upper-middle class neighborhoods, zoning regulations typically required large front setbacks, along with construction valuations above a certain threshold. In part, this was meant to create a more stately and presentable lawn-dominated streetscape. Strong examples of this practice can be found in Hancock Park and Larchmont, among other historic upscale neighborhoods. However, middle class neighborhoods also practiced this aesthetic, as evidenced by the Echo Park home pictured below. This building pattern would go on to help many property owners in districts around Central Los Angeles: first, during the 1920s amidst the City’s construction boom; and then, more significantly, during the mid-20th century, when economic activity in the once bustling Central City suffered as many industries and entrepreneurs suburbanized and moved to places like Burbank, Culver City, or El Segundo. During both eras, the urban planning practice of front yard-dominated streetscapes dating from the early 20th century enabled property owners to add-on commercial spaces upon the front of their lots. It enabled property owners to make the most of their existing properties, rather than having to demolish and rebuilt, or rent separate commercial spaces away from home. Alternately, the property owner may simply live in the rear residence and rent out the front commercial space in front. Ka-chinggg !! Often, the resultant two buildings ended up inches away from each other, if not directly touching. I. Sunset Boulevard, between Sanborn and Laveta Before it was one of the most iconic streets in the world, Sunset Boulevard was a road that meandered through the hills leading to the then-northern boundaries of the City. Indigenous peoples and settlers alike travelled this road as a means to get from the Plaza to the ocean. The street bore a few names until the period between 1901 and 1912, when the City formally began planning the Boulevard as we know it today. The stretch of Sunset Boulevard leading through Echo Park and Silver Lake is our first case study of residential-commercial hybrids. There are still homes dating from the earliest days of this Sunset Boulevard neighborhood, which was originally known as Washington Heights. Starting off at Sunset and Sanborn, we see the historic site of the Black Cat bar. An Art-Deco storefront originally built for Safeway Stores in 1939, it would become the site of the one of one of the most critical events of the modern LGBT movement one fateful night in February 1967. Attached to the property is a 1916 Craftsman, originally built as a single-story cabin by E.S. Cranston on the rear of the lot. In 1952, Dr. Phillip Ames added a medical office on the front setback of the lot. Four years later, he was convicted of providing illegal abortions to nine women (some of whom died as a result), and was suspected of performing them on ninety other women. Pretty horrific stuff. (See: People of the State of California VS. Phillip V. Ames and Ruth Haskin, 1957.) Across the street, near the corner of Sunset and Hyperion, is a Transitional-era bungalow constructed in phases between 1906 and 1910 by Alice G. Barnes, Dr. M.B. Vaster, and Dr. Ray “R.S.” Grant. Grant owned the building for more than thirty years, from before 1910 and up until at least 1944. And wouldn't you know it--in 1939, he added the storefronts on the front lot setback. Traveling south to the intersection of Sunset and Descanso is one of Silver Lake’s favorite family restaurants, Siete Mares. Prior to the construction of Siete, as the homeboys call it, a narrow, oblong bungalow was constructed on the rear of the lot, directly behind the dine-in area of the restaurant. It was built in 1913 for Mrs. Garnett Arnold Pauli, a Swiss-Italian immigrant. Down the block, Ethel Greaves (or Graver) built her hybrid Craftsman, Gothic, and Mission-style residence in 1910, a rare preserved example of clapboarded Mission or Gothic revival architecture in Los Angeles. Frederick Handy built his residence and barbershop on the same lot in 1913. In the mid 30s, commercial spaces were added to the front setbacks of the lot. Several blocks south, at the base of Sunset Boulevard and Waterloo Street is a residential-commercial compound that not only illustrates the mostly-residential nature of Sunset Boulevard at the turn of the 20th century, but also some important socio-political history of early Los Angeles. This lot contains a brilliant mixture of structures built over a 50-year period. The two green residences in the middle of the lot were built in 1904 (the bigger one) and 1910 (the smaller one). The commercial spaces built on the front of the lot were built in the 30s and 40s. The buildings on the very rear of the lot, however, go WAY back. At the rear of this lot are two vernacular Eastern Europeans cottages from the late 19th or early 20th century. They were built by Hungarian immigrant and steel worker Stefan Zacsek for himself, his daughter Anna Zacsek, and wife Teresa Zacsek. Neither structures have an acertained date of construction, but the time range can be narrowed to the time of Zacek’s arrival in 1893 to the construction of the Queen Anne residence in 1904. Zacsek immigrated to the US with his family and founded the Eastern Art Metal and Fixtures Co. in Downtown LA, reflecting a period of heavy ethnic European migration to and assembly in Central Los Angeles. Other “Magyars” (Hungarians) settled in Mid-City and Historic South Central. In addition to his entrepreneurial spirit, Mr. Zacsek and was the author of at least one US patent. Enterprise and invention were not enough for the industrious Stefan Zacsek, who between 1904 and 1911 built two additional homes on the middle of his lot, retaining the original cottages in the rear of the lot. By 1931, the Zacsek family no longer owned the compound as Stefan and Teresa had divorced, and the girls moved to 1488 Sunset Boulevard. I don’t have pictures of the cottages, since they’re hidden from view from Sunset. Pictured below are the Craftsman and Queen Anne residences. (Source: The author) As for young Anna, she grew up in the cottages to the rear of this property until 18, when she left to study music at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, located at 403 South Main Street, up the street from her father’s shop. The LACM was the forerunner institution of what is now CalArts. She dabbled in acting in her young adulthood, and had a role in D.W. Griffith's infamous Birth of a Nation, as well as a rendition of Macbeth and a handful of B-Movies. During her acting career, she was known as Olga Grey. She quickly outgrew her acting pursuits, spending the period from 1920 to 1930 as a critique of American theater and press. As someone who knew firsthand the horrors of Bolshevik Eastern Europe, she soon realized her spirit for the pursuit of justice, and in 1932 passed the California State Bar Exam. Most notably, Anna represented the accused parties in the racially-charged Sleepy Lagoon trials--and won. Anna Zacsek died in 1973, her owner-built retirement home in Surfridge having been eminent domained and demolished few years earlier to expand LAX. More recently, the cottages were nominated in 2011 for protection as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument; they were not considered, due to the alterations done to one of them, among other reasons. Plans to demolish the property have been silent since that date. At present, a boujee boutique operates in the Craftsman home. My guess is the property owner is hosting these tenants to maintain a cash flow until they can secure entitlements to demolish the whole place. A darn, darn shame that these properties cannot be preserved or moved. Anyway, moving on...... some distance south on Sunset Boulevard, across the Glendale Boulevard overpass, past Taix Restaurant, and past Silversun Plaza, we come to Happy Tom's, another one of Echo Park’s favorite family restaurants. I don’t remember a month when I was growing up not eating here at least once. Before E.S. Strauss built the restaurant space on the front setback of the lot in 1922, he, J.L. Franck, and F.W. Rice built a Transitional-style Craftsman on the rear setback. Left: A Craftsman bungalow built behind Happy Tom's restaurant. The bungalow was built sometime in the 1910s, and the commercial space was built in the 1920s. Across the street, in 1913, E. Bradford (or Bradford) hired LA contractor James S. Bohonan to built a long, Colonial Revival-influenced bungalow. The permit, issued February 26th of that year, is stamped “TENEMENT HOUSING: Issued subject to State law.” How fascinating, that tenement housing was built alongside the luxury estates of Washington Heights. At any rate, it’s a terrific little bungalow, and it illustrates the once-working class nature of Washington Heights during the late 19th and early 20th century. The commercial space was added in 1923. II. North Figueroa, between Ave 50 and Ave 61. Highland Park is one of Los Angeles’ oldest suburbs, having been annexed to the City in 1895 and, prior to, was just a lil’ town on the outskirts of LA County. You can find pictures from the late 19th century showing a quaint little Highland Park. Nowadays, North Figueroa is a wide arterial boulevard. However, the homes on the rear of these historic properties illustrate the humble beginnings of this great street. As a district of Los Angeles, "HLP" is distinct in that preservation efforts have documented and preserved a huge swath of the neighborhood's historic architecture, sparing the neighborhood from the density and overdevelopment... despite its being one of the “hottest” places to live in LA. A far cry from the low rents and family businesses that characterized the neighborhood when I was growing up here. Narrowing our focus, let us check out North Fig between Avenues 50 and 61. Starting off on the south-facing side of Fig between Aves 53 and 54, there are a pair of American Foursquares. Foursquare is a subset of Prairie architecture and was enormously popular in Central LA between approximately 1895 and 1910. The orange one was built circa 1902 by an unknown builder. In 1946, Dr. Walter E. Wakelin added the Streamline Moderne-influenced medical office onto the front of the lot, immediately in front of the house. The Foursquare itself retains most of its exterior integrity, with features like the thin clapboards, ganged double-hung windows, and dormer being totally intact. Below left: A 1902 American Foursquare rising above the 1930s Streamline Moderne commercial space in front of it. Below right: Though not a residential-commercial hybrid, I am including this structure to help illustrate the residential nature of North Figueroa at the turn of the 20th century. (Source of both photos: The author) Across the street and slightly south on Fig is a trio of small 1940s storefronts containing the local Alcoholics Anonymous, a florist shop, and a salon. There are two historic buildings on the rear of this commercial space, the first a hipped roof Transitional-style cabin from 1905. Here we find a good example of a commercial add-on that was built right up against the extant residence. To the very rear is the original structure on the lot, an American Foursquare from 1900. Going farther south toward Avenue 50, and across the street from Food 4 Less, we have one of Highland Park’s favorite seafood restaurants. I can’t remember a month growing up where I didn’t eat here at least a few times (didn't I already say this about Happy Tom's?y). This old-time restaurant is built right into a terrific Airplane Bungalow built circa 1909 by unknown owner-builders. Airplane Bungalow is a subset of the Craftsman style, popular in LA between roughly 1910 and 1920. Next door to the seafood restaurant is an Eclectic Revival home from 1903, remodeled in 1922. This particular specimen contains Foursquare, English Colonial, and late Victorian elements. This residence does not have a commercial space fronting it, but nonetheless reflects the formerly residential nature of North Fig. At last, on Figueroa and Avenue 54, there are a trio of 1930s storefronts between the Cathedral and Feli-Mex Market, (which used to be called Duarte Market, and before that…someone help me on this one?) Behind these 1940s storefronts is a Foursquare cabin built by a one Frank Mills in 1912. III. Vermont Avenue in Mid-City, between Pico and Venice Boulevards Above: This photo of Vermont Avenue (at 3rd Street) at the turn of the century depicts a quaint residential street, precisely the opposite from its present state as one of the main arterial thoroughfares in the City. At present, this section of Vermont between 12th Street and Venice Boulevard retains some of its historic residential character. (Source: University of Southern California Digital Libraries) At the northwest corner of Vermont and 12th is a modified Mission-revival residence which has been converted into a cocktail lounge. It was built as a mixed-use building in 1908 by the LaCasella family, and was their novelty shop until the 50s, when it was converted to restaurant use, coinciding with the decline of economic activity in Central Los Angeles. Since then, its been modified immensely in order built it out and maximize its economic potential, but most of the modifications are reversible. Moving south to the intersection of Pico and Vermont, things get more interesting still. On the Vermont-facing side of the southeast corner of this intersection is an American Foursquare built in 1902 by the Feeney family. In 1916, they hired the firm of famed architect A.C. Martin, who designed Los Angeles City Hall, to design a commercial addition for the Pico-facing side of the lot. Sadly, in 2000, the whole facade was stuccoed and a “matching second-story addition” was constructed. Above left: The American Foursquare residence from 1902 donning the Vermont side of the corner of Pico and Vermont. Above right: The commercial addition to the residence designed by famed architect A.C. Martin, remodeled in 2000. Midway down the block on Vermont between Pico and Venice is a hipped-roof cabin from 1905 built by a Mrs. A. Bickings. In 1949, the then-owner added on a 20 by 30 commercial storefront. It has been boarded up for the better part of the past 10 years. A little further south on the same side of the street is the El Salvador Corridor’s favorite shoe store. The residence behind it is an American Foursquare built in 1903 by H.C. Brasher. In 1962, the owner added on a commercial space at the front of the lot. CONCLUDING... As an honorable mention, it is worth noting that Virgil Avenue, from Fountain Avenue and up until Beverly Boulevard, contains some pretty terrific residential-commercial hybrids, but not in the same form as those above. Most of Virgil Avenue's RCHs are in the form of converted residences, rather than residences with separate retail space constructed in front. However, the formula is much the same; the buildings were built in the period 1900 to 1930, and in the 40s and 50s, the residences were converted to commercial use. You can find these residential-commercial hybrids all over the City. They are very frequently occuring in Northeast LA, East LA, and South Central, while they are much less frequent in West LA and the San Fernando Valley.
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