Reseda Tries for a Polished Image With Renewal Plan
Back in the ‘60s, Don Nyland and his buddies would pedal their bikes down to Town and Country Ford or Butlin Buick on Reseda Boulevard and run their hands along the shiny new finishes until the car salesmen shooed them away.
Cars still form the backbone of downtown Reseda’s economy, but most of the dealerships are gone. Nowadays, a jam-packed strip of muffler shops and repair bays, parts stores and smog-inspection stations occupy much of the area. All told, 74 automotive businesses operate within an 18-block area along Reseda Boulevard and Sherman Way.
“The whole area just looks trashy,” said Nyland, who now operates Don’s Mobile Car Service. “There’s just too many car shops. It’s outrageous how many of them there are.”
Nyland is still an unabashed car enthusiast, but he agrees with proponents of a controversial Reseda revitalization effort who say that the area has become the San Fernando Valley’s car repair capital to the detriment of other businesses. In recent years, the last theater in Reseda closed, the clothing shops got upstaged by nearby malls, and Hugo’s Mexican Restaurant moved to Canoga Park.
Reseda Boulevard is a confused mass of double- and triple-parked cars waiting to be fixed. Others, their hoods gaping, are being worked on. Horns honk, mechanics shout for parts and owners look puzzled as they peer at the undersides of cars on oily lifts.
The row of auto shops is broken only occasionally by a veterinary hospital, certified public accountant’s office and stores whose windows are painted in loud colors advertising tropical fish or Army and Navy surplus clothing. Few people walk along the street and several stores stand empty.
A citizens committee proposal that goes before the Los Angeles City Planning Commission on Aug. 9 would put the brakes on any new car-related businesses in Reseda’s central business district, an area generally along Reseda Boulevard between Saticoy and Kittridge streets and along Sherman Way between Wilbur and Hesperia avenues.
New pawnshops, pool halls, thrift shops, trade schools, taxidermists and, unlikely as they may be, mushroom farms, would also be disallowed. Any existing businesses in those categories, as well as others, could not expand or trade hands.
The plan’s aim is to upgrade Reseda’s image and to attract a variety of businesses such as cafes, bakeries and dress shops. Landscaped walkways between the businesses would encourage people to park their cars and window shop, planners say.
Similar plans, also aimed at revitalizing neighborhood business districts, are being developed for Chatsworth, Northridge and Van Nuys, and one is already in place in North Hollywood’s redevelopment area.
But critics say the plan would cause existing businesses to close, leaving empty stores that would further erode the area’s economy. They say the plan could also drive up rents and transform an affordable shopping district patronized by many moderate-income Valley residents into a strip of boutiques and yogurt shops.
“Every city wants to be a little Solvang, and it’s not going to happen,” said Wes Ferson, 34, who was buying tires at 4 Wheel Parts on Reseda Boulevard last week.
News of the proposal, some of it inaccurate, has spewed like a radiator leak through Reseda’s automotive world. Many mechanics and parts dealers resent the government intrusion they say it represents. Yet, ironically, few want Reseda to stay the way it is.
“Reseda has turned into a second-rate city,” said Neil Carruthers, who added that he has operated United Auto Electric in the same location in the 18000 block of Sherman Way for “32 stinking years.”
Carruthers said there isn’t “a decent place left to get a good meal” in Reseda, and he thinks the old buildings look derelict and disgraceful. Auto repair shops, he said, “are not a handsome thing to look at.”
But, for better or worse, auto repair is Reseda’s livelihood, and should not be cast aside, Carruthers said.
“The beautification thing, hey, the idea’s great,” he said. “But if they’re trying to get rid of auto-related businesses, that’s totally contrary to what we are here. Somebody’s got his head on backwards.”
Tom Hilborn, chairman of the Community Organization of Reseda, which was hastily organized by business owners who oppose the plan, said it would preclude many of them from selling or expanding their businesses.
Hilborn, whose family has operated Hilborn Motor Car Interiors for three generations, said businesses such as his already attract upscale customers.
Hilborn’s business is a well-known upholstery shop that specializes in Rolls-Royces, at roughly $10,000 an interior. Entertainers such as Michael Jackson, Linda Evans, Don Ameche and Diahann Carroll have had work done there.
Even so, Hilborn’s shop is across the street from an adult bookstore and a cluster of 10 other repair shops: Alon Auto Service, Armin Auto Service, Lou’s VW, Irv’s Automotive, Sam’s Custom Upholstery, Choto BMW/Mercedes, Pars Auto Mechanic, Master Auto Body, Richie’s Imports and 4 Wheel Parts.
Having so many car businesses, Hilborn said, is good, not bad. A better solution than discouraging automotive businesses would be to clean them up and highlight them, he said.
“There are quite a few that need some cosmetic help,” he said. “I’d like to see a plan that would encourage these guys to build up their businesses and stay here. I’d like the plan to say, ‘Yes, this is what Reseda is, and we’re proud of it.’ ”
The business owners who joined Community Organization of Reseda met recently and came up with some alternative ways to spruce up the area.
Suggestions included painting buildings in a consistent, tasteful color scheme with matching awnings. Shade trees could be planted and benches and trash cans placed along the sidewalks. Large, flashy signs could be prohibited. Anti-graffiti patrols could be established.
A modest face lift could make Reseda more appealing to customers, without making it into something it isn’t.
“It’s almost like they think they can make Reseda into Rodeo Drive,” said Howard Hilborn, Tom’s father. “You just cannot make silk from a sow’s ear.”
Jack Haim, 40, who works as a mechanic in a $1,000-a-month, garage-size shop, doesn’t even agree that the sow’s ear could use some polish.
“There is enough business for everybody,” he said from under the hood of a car. “What is there to change? Maybe change the people in Reseda. The complainers.”
RESEDA SNAPSHOTS
A sampling of businesses in the central Reseda business district: Auto-related businesses: 74 Restaurants: 8 Fast-food restaurants: 10 Thrift stores: 5 Pawnshops: 6 Ice cream/yogurt shops: 2 Shoe stores: 4 Dress shops: 3 Hardware stores: 1 Candy stores: 0 Theaters: 0
Source: Reseda Chamber of Commerce
