City Files Charges Over Apartment Bulldozing

Criminal charges have been filed against the owner and manager of the landmark Sunset Plaza Apartments for the “illegal, improper and dangerous partial demolition” of the 49-year-old complex in July, 1984, a spokesman for Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn announced Friday.

Ted Goldstein said five criminal charges were filed against owner Laura Investment Co. and manager Raleigh Enterprises in connection with the highly publicized partial demolition of the complex at 1220 Sunset Plaza Drive last July.

A spokesman for Raleigh said there would be no comment on the charges.

Once Home to Stars

The Spanish Colonial complex, which had once been home to Carole Lombard, Charles Farrell, Katharine Hepburn and others, was partially destroyed by a bulldozer last summer as tenants looked on. Several of the tenants said they were asleep when the operation began.

Two of the five charges are for violations of laws making it illegal to interfere with the lawful possession of a residence, Goldstein said.

The three remaining charges accuse the defendants of violating their demolition permit by attempting to demolish the building with a bulldozer, which the permit did not allow; failing to file an environmental impact report, and failing to set up a protective fence around the area.

‘One Fell Swoop’

“They were apparently in great haste to tear the building down,” Goldstein said. “They started at the ground floor and apparently were intending to tear the thing down in one fell swoop--with three adults and three children still in the building.”

Also named in the complaint, which was filed Thursday in Municipal Court, were George I. Rosenthal, chief executive officer of Raleigh; Jack Zoldan, chief financial officer of Raleigh; Louis P. Angelikis, chief architect for Raleigh, and Wirt P. Cunningham, the demolition contractor.

The complex has been the center of a four-year battle between tenants and the owners, who hope to build high-rise apartments on the site. The buildings, which were the setting for the film “American Gigolo,” were designed by Paul Williams, an architect who designed many luxury homes in Beverly Hills and Hancock Park in the 1920s and ‘30s.

The defendants are due to be arraigned Aug. 22 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.