LOS ANGELES
DOWNTOWN
NEWS August 31, 2009
Volume 38, Number 35
INSIDE
MOCA’s Party Night 12
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Volleyball comes, pirates busted, and other happenings Around Town.
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Editorials: Unlikely bedfellows in the hotel industry, and a summer sports pay-off.
W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
Charlie and the Housing Factory Toy Industry King Plans 320-Unit Project for Arts District by RichaRd Guzmán city editoR
Rocking out at the Regent Theatre.
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Urban Scrawl on the Dodgers’ travails.
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Huntington owners face a sale deadline.
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n the recession-dominated economy, most developers are shying away from ambitious new projects. Yet last week Charlie Woo, a well-known Downtown business pioneer and owner of the toy industry titan Megatoys, took a different and decidedly more aggressive approach — he cleared the first hurdle for a 2.9-acre residential project which could reshape part of the Arts District. The city Planning Department on Thursday, Aug. 27, gave its initial approval to construct a six-story, 320-unit project on the site of Woo’s 49,000-square-foot Megatoys
warehouse and an adjacent parking lot. The project with for-sale residences would also include 15,576 square feet of retail space and 766 parking spaces. It would close off Garey Street between First and Second to become a pedestrian-only street flanked by stores. Units would also bridge Garey Street. The project will next go to the city Planning Commission in October. “We are very glad to have taken this first step and we’re moving forward,” Woo said after the hearing. While plans are in the early stage and a budget and financing have not been determined, Woo, who see Housing, page 9
photo by Gary Leonard
Charlie Woo, who made his name in the Downtown toy industry, is jumping into the development game. He hopes to start building a 320-unit condominium complex within two years.
Olvera Street Tenant To Be Evicted
The Central City Synagogue
After 60 Years, Casa De Sousa Ousted for Owing $13,000
Downtown’s New Center of Jewish Life Hits a High Point With Torah Dedication by anna Scott
The latest Health developments.
Staff wRiteR
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From ‘Zero to Infinity’ at Fisher Gallery.
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photo by Gary Leonard
Conchita Sousa, owner of Olvera Street mainstay Casa De Sousa, and her fiancé, Fernando Cruz. The proprietors of the business have fallen behind on their rent numerous times. On Aug. 21, a judge gave an order for their eviction. by RichaRd Guzmán city editoR
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Five great entertainment options.
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14 CALENDAR LISTINGS 16 MAP 17 CLASSIFIEDS
fter more than 60 years in business, Casa De Sousa, a coffee shop and gift store on Olvera Street, is facing eviction from its home for non-payment of rent. It would mark only the second eviction in the attraction’s almost 80year history. At an Aug. 21 hearing at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, Conchita Sousa, whose father Benjamin Antonio Sousa began doing business at Olvera Street in 1932, was given a court order to move out of her store for failing to pay rent on her 2,000-square-foot business. City officials gave Sousa until the end of September to move out. “We’re going to see if we can ap-
peal, if it’s what we can do. We’re not just going to roll over,” said Sousa. The situation has been contentious for years. Robert Andrade, general manager of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, the city department which oversees Olvera Street, said Casa De Sousa’s owners were six months behind on their $1,900 rent, and after failing to comply with a repayment agreement, owe about $13,000. Nine other Olvera Street merchants are also behind on their rents, said Andrade. The issue of rents has been heated in recent months, following moves to look at raising lease rates for the dozens of merchants who pay below-market rates. see Rent, page 6
he Jewish Community Center-Chabad of Downtown Los Angeles has had its own space for five months, and it served the community’s Jewish population in temporary locations for approximately a year before that. But in September, the proceedings at what its proprietor calls the first new full-time synagogue in Downtown in 60 years will go to a different level. Like other synagogues, the Downtown JCC will celebrate Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New
Year, on Sept. 19 and 20. Services for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, will follow on Sept. 27-28. Still, Moshe Greenwald, the 27-year-old founder of the temple, which occupies a 1,300-squarefoot space on the second floor of a Jewelry District building, is looking forward to Thursday, Sept. 3. That is when the temple will mark a milestone by dedicating its new Torah. Getting a Torah is more complex than simply ordering one. A special scribe in Israel known as a sofer created the JCC’s Torah especially for see Synagogue, page 8
photo by Gary Leonard
Rabbi Moshe Greenwald with the Jewish Community Center-Chabad of Downtown Los Angeles’ new Torah. The handwritten scroll will be completed during a dedication ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 3.
Since 1972, an independent, locally owned and edited newspaper, go figure.