Larchmont Chronicle
VOL. 63, NO. 4
APRIL 2025
• DELIVERED TO 76,439 READERS IN HANCOCK PARK • WINDSOR SQUARE • FREMONT PLACE • MIRACLE MILE • PARK LA BREA • LARCHMONT •
IN THIS ISSUE
Election for GWNC, Mid City April 15
To adhere to parking signs or not adhere? n Deciphering outdated parking signs
SUMMER CAMPS & PROGRAMS. 10
AROUND THE TOWN.
3
RESULTS are in for Cub Scouts’ Derby. 16
DODGERS have it all. 17 Mailing permit:
By Bridget Smith Four years after the City of Los Angeles reduced its street sweeping schedule, outdated parking restriction signs continue to mislead motorists. Despite the change from weekly to biweekly street cleaning in 2021, parking signs still instruct drivers to move their cars on days when they can legally park. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, StreetsLA, the City’s Public Works Bureau of Street Maintenance, reduced street sweeping frequency by half. At the time, the bureau’s director said that they were considering placing color-coded stickers on the existing signs to reflect the change. However, years later, the signs remain unchanged See Parking, P 23
Neighborhoods are in jeopardy once again
n State bill threatens city zoning everywhere By Suzan Filipek The community was still fresh from celebrating new safeguards passed to protect single-family neighborhoods when a state bill surfaced last month that could change everything. If approved, Senate Bill 79 “would open up most single-family neighborhoods throughout the state to more density and height with no public input,” said Cindy Chvatal-Keane, president of the See Neighborhoods, P 6
GRAD SALUTE
Our annual section honoring local high school graduates will be featured in the May issue of the Larchmont Chronicle. Advertising deadline is Mon., April 7. For more information or general advertising questions, contact 323-462-2241, ext. 13, or email wyatt@ larchmontchronicle.com.
n Register by April 7
DEVELOPER Julius LaBonte began subdividing the area’s agricultural land in 1921, but it was Paramount’s gravitational pull that gave the area its character.
Larchmont's forgotten film colony: Paramount Studios n Film studio transformed Larchmont Village
By Philip Alberstat When Paramount Pictures raised its iconic water tower at 5555 Melrose Ave. in 1926, few could have predicted how profoundly the studio would shape the character of neighboring Larchmont Village. As one of Hollywood’s “Big Five” studios during the Golden Age, Paramount wasn’t just producing films—it was quietly transforming an entire
Los Angeles neighborhood into an extension of the movie industry itself. Paramount’s own story began in 1912 when Adolph Zukor founded Famous Players Film Company in New York. After merging with Jesse L. Lasky’s Feature Play Company, the studio relocated operations to California, eventually consolidating at its current See Paramount, P 18
The last day to vote for neighborhood council board members is Tues., April 15. The election will occur by mail for both the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council and Mid City Neighborhood Council. The deadline to apply for a ballot from the City Clerk’s office is Mon., April 7, for both the GWNC and Mid City—in Region 5. There will be no in-person voting. Ballots can be mailed or deposited in ballot box locations at Fairfax and Memorial branch libraries and at other locations. Neighborhood councils are the first level of city government and a liaison to the mayor’s office, city councilmembers and city departments. Board members serve two-year terms. They are advisory volunteers who can have impact on policy and elected officials. For information, visit tinyurl.com/ yc276425, or call 213-9780444.
Vote
on or before Tues., April 15
Vendors add hometown feel to Blvd.
n Likened to Montmartre
By Nona Sue Friedman With a viola performing on one side of the street, a steel drum and guitar on the other, ceramics, paintings, jewelry, food and more for sale, Larchmont Boulevard is happening. Add to that the twice-weekly farmers’ market and no wonder the street has been buzzing with sidewalk vendors. “It’s like having a festival every weekend. I think it’s fun and lively and brings a lot of people to the neighborhood,” Diane Sherer of Beachwood Drive said excitedly. But with rents in the thousands monthly, how do store managers feel about these
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CROWDS STROLL along Larchmont with vendors on both sides of the sidewalk.
pop-up shops coming onto the block without paying rent? Top Drawer, at 140 N. Larch@LarchmontChronicle
mont Blvd., has only good things to say about the venSee Vendors, P 14 @LarchmontChronicle
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