Attempt to Save Carwash Is Scrubbed by L.A. Panel

A campaign to turn a Studio City carwash into a cultural monument was scrubbed Wednesday when Los Angeles officials decided the place was too common looking--and its customers were not uncommon enough.

Dashing the hopes of residents who tried to thwart construction of a mini-mall on the site, members of the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission voted 4 to 0 against a landmark designation for the carwash and an adjoining gas station and coffee shop after several preservation experts testified against the idea.

Commissioners said the 28-year-old automotive complex fails to meet the city’s criteria as a cultural treasure. Those guidelines include requirements that such sites either have “the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural-type specimen” or be “identified with historic personages or with important events.”

The vote clears the way for a developer who owns the southeast corner of Ventura and Laurel Canyon boulevards to remove the three buildings and start construction of a new $15-million mini-mall in 90 days.

Homeowners’ unhappiness with builder Ira Smedra’s shopping center plan had sparked the unusual cultural monument application--which in recent weeks attracted worldwide attention as the latest example of Los Angeles’ wacky love affair with the automobile.

A monument designation, if ratified by the City Council, would have delayed Smedra’s demolition plans for up to one year. That would have given supporters time to try to persuade Smedra to somehow incorporate the carwash, gas station and Tiny Naylor’s restaurant in his project, residents said.

Members of the cultural panel had indicated last month that they were split 2 to 1 in favor of the designation. A formal vote was delayed until Wednesday to allow a newly appointed fourth commission member to take his seat on the board.

Homeowners told the panel that the carwash, which is topped by three 55-foot-tall, boomerang-shaped steel beams, serves as “the gateway to Studio City.”

Example of Car Culture

“A landmark doesn’t have to be a statue of a Yankee general,” said Kathy Negele, who lives a few blocks from the carwash’s beams. She urged that they be preserved as an example of San Fernando Valley car culture.

But historian Portia Lee testified against the application, asserting that the origin of the carwash boomerang is uncertain. “History is not instant, even in Southern California,” she said, noting that the carwash was built in 1961.

Knox Mellon, retired director of the State Office of Historical Preservation, said the carwash meets neither architectural nor historical landmark guidelines. He warned that designation of such a “marginal” site could haunt the city panel in the future.

The only commission support for the carwash came from its president, Amarjit S. Marwah. He said the site meets the city’s cultural criteria, adding, “I’m personally against mini-malls and Mickey Mouse developments. . . .”

When it became clear he was outnumbered, Marwah joined the other commissioners in making the vote unanimous, however.

Save-the-car-wash campaign leader Jack McGrath said residents will urge City Councilman Joel Wachs, whose district includes the carwash corner, to ignore the commission action and ask council colleagues to approve the cultural designation anyway.

No Memories for Children

“We’ve very disappointed,” McGrath said. “We’ve demolished so many things in the San Fernando Valley. We haven’t kept any memories for our kids.”

Wachs was unavailable for comment after the meeting. One of his chief deputies, Greg Nelson, said it is uncertain whether the City Council “can make an end run around the commission. . . . We’re trying right now to find out what we can do.”

Smedra, meantime, urged residents to work with him in deciding on the final touches for his proposed 53,000-square-foot, two-story shopping center.

One of those touches, he hinted, might just be the 55-foot-tall boomerangs. “We’ve offered to donate them to the L.A. Conservancy,” Smedra said.

Jay Rounds, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy, said his group’s preservation officer is investigating Smedra’s offer.

“It has always been our policy to favor preservation of things on the original site wherever possible,” Rounds said.