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Laptop-carrying Eastside caffeine addicts had a scare this week with news that the Coffee Table, a restaurant known for its fresh food and multiple electrical outlets, had lost its lease on Rowena in Silverlake. But it turns out the Coffee Table may be ok after all — it's Rowena that's in trouble.
A 3-story, 200-foot, 64-unit condo complex may go in on the street. If all goes as planned, the Coffee Table will rent retail space in the complex — in roughly the same place, we're guessing. But the complex itself looks kind of gargantuan compared to the surrounding buildings. Opponents point out that the development's footprint — 10,760 square feet — is entirely out of proportion with a neighborhood whose buildings have an average footprint of no more than 2,100 square feet.
Those affluent, activist Silverlakers sure can organize quickly; a meeting to rally oppponents is scheduled for next Wednesday night at Ivanhoe School. The development falls in City Councilman Tom La Bonge's district; so far, there has been no comment on it from his office.
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That looks like a similar building on the corner of Glendale and Silverlake Blvd. I think it looks great (except for the color and that large, flat, parapet element above the parking garage entrance).
I love the "pedestrian safety" complaint. What's safer - one, large, up to code driveway; or a bunch of tiny, substandard, single family home driveways. I bike down Rowena a lot, and people pull out of those driveways recklessly - because there really is no other way to do it with the way driveways are designed and oriented.
Gargantuan? It looks like a two-story building with one level of semi-underground parking. It looks very similar to an apartment building just around the corner from there on the west side of Griffith Park Blvd., not to mention many other buildings in the area. Is this what NIMBY-ism has come to?
Apparently, there's another project - a 40-unit apartment building - going up on Hyperion near Trader Joe's. I know this because I saw a sign nearby declaring that "WE VEHEMENTLY OPPOSE THE PROPOSED 40-UNIT APARTMENT COMPLEX blah blah blah ..." with the requisite bulleted list of unacceptable!!! impacts. Because sure, that block can handle a Trader Joe's, a Gelsons, a Blockbuster Video, and dozens of other businesses, but 40 apartments? Gaia forbid!
The NIMBYs are totally out of control in this city.
If you think a three-story apartment building in the heart of Los Angeles -- along a street at least twice as wide as the building is tall -- is "gargantuan," then you've just forfeited your right to ever again complain about the cost of housing in L.A.
Dudes? She said gargantuan by comparison to the other buildings on the street.
Did we even click on the link to see the accompanying picture that makes the point?
While some may kvetch about the size of the buildings, I think most of the people who oppose such apartment complexes do have concerns unrelated to the size of the actual structure. For example, a 40-unit building means at least 40 more bodies and, in this town, 40 more cars.
I don't know if you've ever actually tried to drive down that block of Hyperion, but it's nearly impossible during busy times now. All those extra vehicles in an already congested area is something that would concern me in my neighborhood.
Did we even click on the link to see the accompanying picture that makes the point?
Yes. And read some of the accompanying literature, which is highly entertaining.
Listening closely out my window in Palms, it sounds like the world's smallest orchestra is performing the world's smallest violin concerto. Ooh, there--I see the world's smallest violinist taking a bow!
Seriously, NIMBYs. You live in the middle of the second biggest metropolis in America, not Santa Barbara. That is not an "out-of-scale" building.
I've seen the plans for this building, I've calculated the space, I've done the math. I am informed. I am decided. It is definitely out of scale. and by the way, it's 3 stories.
The people who support Rowena Community Vision, myself included, are not 'opposed' to development of Rowena. We are not NIMBYs, nor are we 'complaining'. We advocate SENSIBLE, SAFE development of Rowena, which preserves the character of Silver Lake. I'm pro-development - particularly if you're talking about how to develop a safe way to cross Rowena with your kid on the way to Ivanhoe School. It's a freakin' drag strip even with the lone, ineffective stoplight at W. Silverlake.
As for the comment on driveways - no one I know is advocating putting a bunch of single-family homes along Rowena.