By Craig Stephens
After
five years of occupancy, three pivotal downtown art venues on Fifth
Street have been given notice to evict after the owner of the former
Rosslyn Hotel opted to entertain more profitable development proposals — which may include luxury apartments sitting on top of a restaurant and bar.
Located at the epicenter of the Downtown L.A. Art Walk, the Pharmaka
gallery, L.A. Center for Digital Art and El Nopal Press have been on
month-to-month leases for the last two years. Now the owner, the San
Diego-based Amerland Group, has issued the galleries with notice,
forcing them to relocate by September.
Rex Bruce, owner and manager of the L.A. Center for Digital Art has
been at the venue for the past five years. He was given the space for a
small rent and used his own money to transform the former storefront
into a full-fledged gallery.
“It's a shock and I hope to stay downtown to make the most out of
all the work we've done to develop the Art Walk here,” Bruce says. “We
are scrambling right now to get another space happening.”
Having also spent tens of thousands of dollars to transform a
neighboring storefront, Shane Guffogg, Pharmaka's owner-manager, is
similarly stunned by the eviction. He is currently considering an offer
from Amerland to be rehoused inside what was once the former hotel's
lobby.
“It's a shock — the Fifth Street gallery scene is the heart of the
Art Walk,” Guffogg says. “If it ceases it will dissipate the Art Walk
and inevitably effect traffic and the downtown economy. I hope the
lobby idea works, but [we'd be here] simply for the use of the
walls. We've haven't decided anything yet.”
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