Restaurants’ Neighbors Fed Up Over Parking : Residents Near Ventura Boulevard Urging L.A. to Create a Restricted Zone

Diners wanting to eat at trendy Sherman Oaks restaurants may soon find themselves all dressed up for dinner with no place to park.

Residents living south and north of Ventura Boulevard, fed up with cars attracted by boulevard eateries and businesses and parked on their streets, have asked Los Angeles city officials to establish a restricted parking zone in their neighborhoods.

If approved, the parking district would be the largest along Ventura Boulevard and among the largest in the city. It would make it almost impossible for motorists who don’t live there to park their cars on residential streets near Ventura without risking a ticket.

“Sherman Oaks is the Melrose of the Valley,” said Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. “We have trendy restaurants and shops, and inadequate parking. We have the good, the bad and the ugly.”

The proposal has already raised the ire of restaurant owners who say they are being unfairly victimized by selfish homeowners.

Don Shain, the owner of Shain’s, said the parking restrictions could have a devastating effect.

“This has the force of putting us out of business,” he said. “This is an appalling circumstance. These homeowners are pretty radical, but these are public streets. They don’t belong to the residents.”

“These people have their own garages to park in, so why are they bothering us?” asked Roberto Eng, manager of Maria’s Italian Kitchen. “Our customers find it hard enough to park as it is. This is really going to hurt us. We’re going to fight.”

The proposed parking district is already under consideration by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, which has scheduled an Oct. 19 hearing on the issue at an unspecified location. Although a general outline of the proposed area has been drawn up, the specific streets to be included and the times during which parking would be restricted have yet to be determined.

The proposed district’s approximate borders would include Moorpark Street on the north, Fulton Avenue on the east, Valley Vista Boulevard and Davana Terrace on the south, and Hazeltine Avenue on the west. Parking on streets within those borders could be by permit only. The district would be subject to approval by the City Council.

Residents say they need relief from valets who leave cars in front of their houses. They also complain about diners laughing and slamming their car doors in the middle of the night as they leave the restaurants.

“The last two years have gotten real bad,” said Melissa Zimmer, who has lived on Sunnyslope Avenue for 12 years. “These people don’t care where they park. There are beer bottles all over the place. They block driveways with their cars.”

Diana Bruggermann, a deputy for Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo, who represents the bulk of the proposed district, said the problem has escalated with the growing popularity of trendy restaurants such as the Moonlight Tango Cafe and the Great Greek.

“These restaurants are located in older buildings that don’t have any parking, so customers and people who work at those places have no choice but to park on the residential streets when the spaces on Ventura Boulevard fill up,” Bruggermann said.

Some restaurants have tried to ease the crunch by leasing parking space behind area businesses that shut down in the evening, Bruggermann said.

Ernie Criezis, who owns the Moonlight Tango Cafe and Great Greek, said that his valets used to park cars on residential streets but that now he leases more than 150 spaces from businesses. He added that he hires two security guards to patrol the streets and make sure his employees and customers don’t block driveways.

Although he said establishing the parking district would help maintain peace between the Ventura Boulevard businesses and area residents, he criticized the complaining homeowners.

“These people are living in fantasy land,” Criezis said.

“They bought a house that’s a few inches from one of the busiest boulevards in all of Los Angeles,” he said, and “they expect it should be quiet like it is in Bel-Air. These streets were built with public funds and are not for a select few. But you can’t make these people happy.”