Significance of the Carwash

The 10-3 vote by the Los Angeles City Council ordering developer Ira Smedra to complete an environmental study before he can build a shopping center at Laurel and Ventura is terrific. Perhaps in the months while the study is conducted, an alternate plan for that corner will be approved.

Although I was born in Studio City, I don’t see any “historical significance” to a carwash and Tiny Naylor’s. However, Studio City does not need another mini-mall with the prerequisite tanning salon/one-hour photo/video rental outlet and yogurt shop.

There are many things that Studio City does need, however, and perhaps Mr. Smedra could put his money into helping the community and not destroying it. A parking structure, for instance, is needed to serve the traffic problems created by the existing businesses. A new location is needed for the AA groups that are being moved from the Redford Avenue and Studio 54 locations. There are more than 500 people at these meetings weekly; they would appreciate a new location, as well as provide customers for existing businesses in Studio City. A museum reflecting Studio City history would also be a nifty touch and would be near Universal Studios with its millions of tourists each year.

There is a lot of history in the San Fernando Valley: the movie business, the development of the San Fernando Valley, my birth in 1947. There are lots of historical moments. I would even be willing to donate the many hours of interminable home movies that my parents took of Studio City from 1938-1960, even the film of my girlfriends and myself running nude through the sprinklers on Goodland Avenue, despite a hefty offer for that footage from Rob Lowe.

Now that the City Council has taken this stand to delay the destruction of Studio City, perhaps they can help in Sherman Oaks and act to curtail the overbuilding on single-family lots that has produced the eyesores such as those odd-looking houses on the corner of Beverly Glen and Greenleaf. Since they look much more like the structures found on miniature golf courses than real houses, I hope the City Council votes to turn them into a three-hole miniature golf course, par 4, for the children of Sherman Oaks, and passes motions to assure reasonable compatibility of new structures with existing neighborhoods.

LINDA COWAN MOSE

Sherman Oaks