Historic Hotel Barred From Evicting Residents

Owners of the historic Clark Hotel cannot evict longtime residents by converting the 550 rooms to other uses, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Harvey Schneider ruled Thursday.

The legal battle began in 1988, when the hotel was purchased by a group of investors from China who planned to make the first three floors of the former downtown Broadway department store into a “Friendship” store featuring Chinese goods. After tenants balked at eviction, the developers sought a summary judgment.

But in his ruling, Schneider said he relied in part on a declaration filed by the city in support of the tenants’ position. The city said that the owners promised the mayor’s office that the tenants could stay “for as long as they choose.” Tenants, many of them elderly and on fixed incomes, allege they have had to endure extreme discomfort and unsafe conditions over the past months.