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*These buildings, in the photos above, are still here as of August 22, 2007. But for how long?
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The old Studio City writer’s and production company bungalows that once lined Radford across from CBS Studios have been demolished. Just like Hoffman and Guerin Streets behind them, the new behemoths are rising fast.
The neighborhood around CBS had a quiet, informal and pre-war loveliness about it. It was a place of modest rents, open doors, and people sitting outside on lawn chairs. Some of the architecture was from the late 1930s and 40s with streamlined corners and horizontally paned windows.
There is still a car service station on the corner of Hoffman and Radford that must be at least 60 years old. A hydraulic lift sits behind plate glass windows that have been painted blue. But the original intention was to allow the pedestrian to look inside and see what the mechanics were working on.
I worked for a production company in the fall of 2001 that had rented a bungalow near Valley Heart Drive and Radford. Wooden stairs led up to a little apartment with a bathroom, old kitchen and operable windows. After 9/11, the FAA suspended all civil aviation, and for weeks I would step outside of the offices and marvel at the absolute midday stillness of the blue skies, absent the usual jets that normally deafen Studio City.
The new “luxury” condos are architectural atrocities, full of nervous details and excessive gingerbread. They are all painted various shades of khaki with gracelessly pregnant columned balconies. The builders are piling on stone, tiles, marble, arched windows and a nauseating profusion of roses, palms, and bright lights. “The Cheesecake Factory” a la mode…..
Young people (like Tom McNulty) once came here and played volleyball in the front yards, paying $400 a month in rent, while they wrote screenplays or tried to get a job on a film. Now middle-aged families will struggle to pay a $4,000 a month mortgage, and $10,000 a year in taxes, so that they can sit inside marble countered kitchens, behind air-conditioned doors.
But they will be no more secure, even behind the gates and burglar alarms. The financial hour of reckoning is coming for America.
Here in Van Nuys 
Nice blog. I live on Guerin, the block closer to the river from Hoffman, between two architectural monstrosities. Our building is circa early 40’s, and has been nicely maintained. I have been to a few neighborhood council meetings, to blow off steam about the rapacious nature of all this construction. Just today they started demolishing one of the three old bungalow two stories at the end of Guerin. Talk about feeling powerless. I just might cry when they start cutting down the trees later in the week.
I just don’t think that the folks moving into 800,000 dollar condos are going to take the MTA anywhere, so all of these extra units will only prove to further congest our traffic byways and highways. So much for density.
And those old buildings are lovely. We have a yard. A yard! Can you imagine a developer planning to waste all of that potential rental space? No siree.
I love that building you have a pic of. So evocative of Hollywood.
Thanks.
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There used to be a burger stand at the “triangle” intersection of Radford, Ventura Blvd and Ventura Place – I think it was called “Dannys”. I chowed down many a burger there in my younger days and skatboard down the street to Kit-Kraft hobby store.
Now there’s a tasteless mirrored glass office building in it’s place.
Heck, I remember when the shopping center across the street was a bunch of apartment bungalows, but at the time I was excited to get a McDonalds in town, so I liked the idea of a shopping center.
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I agree with you on the need for a neighborhood with more density. I just think that the destruction and pasing of buildings from a certain vintage merits some comment. The new structures are very different from what was here before, and they are going to impact the feel of this district.
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It is a shame to lose those beautiful, classic LA complexes. I applied for a studio in that building in the picture when I moved to LA in 2002. It was $795 (I think) and the owners were a kind, older couple who obviously took great care in maintaining their building.
But… I have top say that while it is sad to lose such great architecture, those three streets are the ideal neighborhood for some extra density. You could live there and rarely have to drive a car. The Rapid Red stop is on Laurel Canyon, and it’s a 10-minute ride to the Universal subway station. Major groceries stores, great restaurants and bars are all within walking distance. And the river is a good separator to prevent tall condos from overshadowing single-family homes.
Anyway, thanks for the blog.
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Couldn’t have said it better myself, Andrew! Hmmm, wonder what production company you were referring to?? Ugh, if only those bungalows weren’t such a headache for a chosen few, I might have been able to appreciate the beauty too! But I was the lucking one that had to make sure we got those windows working…as well as the T1’s, the parking, phones…;)!! Enjoy your blog and the great pictures. Hope you’re well.
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i’m a fellow van nuys resident. i like your blog. thought you and your readers might enjoy this site (details crime in van nuys and elswhere in relation to the adress you type in.)
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ahh, the fascinating dichotomy of progress…one step closer to the future (ie better, faster, more, cheaper…yay!) but also simultaneously inching closer to the end.
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