Hollywood Farmers Market Dispute Mushrooms Into Land-Use War

L.A. Film School has big plans and wants greater access along Ivar, as well as Sunday access to its parking structure

Comments (0) By Beth Barrett and Simone Wilson Thursday, Dec 23 2010

...continued from page 1

Adam Englander, of the PR firm Englander, Knabe & Allen, hired to speak for the school after the dispute made headlines, says that as the school looks for ways to expand, new construction can't be ruled out.

He says the school has committed to working with the farmers market and doesn't want it to leave Hollywood, but it can't schedule the classes and events it would like until the matter is resolved.

Hollywood Farmers Market circa 2004

More About

Garcetti says the final decision on changes to Hollywood Farmers Market will be up to SEE-LA.

But that's not really the case.

When SEE-LA chooses a new spot for its orphaned Ivar segment, the major landowners at the new site can refuse to agree to its street-use permit, just as Los Angeles Film School did. Landowners may be leery, particularly if the dozens of stalls pushed off Ivar are potentially going to be followed by the rest of the market, as the film school presses for use of its Ivar Theatre.

But for now, Garcetti and Woo seem focused on the much smaller parking lot dispute.

Garcetti suggests the kicked-out Ivar stalls could be set up on Hollywood Boulevard. Another possibility is on Ivar north of Hollywood Boulevard, far removed from the rest of the farmers market.

Woo suggests moving the orphaned segment a block east to Vine Street, where the stalls would be "almost contiguous" to the market, with room to expand. He also points to the Urban Outfitters parking lot off Ivar, and a private parking lot in Cosmo Alley.

SEE-LA has asked an architect to begin evaluating the space options to determine how many stalls might be squeezed in, Woo says.

Since 2007, SEE-LA Chief Executive Pompea Smith and other leaders of the 19-year-old market have been quietly ignoring the film school's warnings that the school intended to expand and wanted daily use of the full block on Ivar.

Garcetti's staff met with representatives of both the market and the school in 2007 and continued to talk with both sides. But nothing substantive came from that.

Two months ago, when the film school formally contested the market's street-closure permit renewal, Smith had no Plan B to fall back on. The school's action triggered a formal hearing process, which is now on hold during the moratorium.

"In 2007, the film school requested access to their parking, and we provided it at the southern end of Ivar," Smith says. "Everything seemed fine. Diana [Derycz-Kessler] seemed to understand the contribution we made to the community."

Now, Smith says, reconfiguring the market will be a huge challenge under any circumstances, due to its great need for space, access and even shade.