Slumlord Faces New Charges Over Hollywood Building

Seven years after a judge sentenced him to house arrest in one of his own blighted buildings, convicted slumlord Milton Avol is facing similar charges involving a Hollywood apartment complex, according to a complaint filed Thursday by City Atty. James K. Hahn.

Avol, 69, is charged with 27 violations of various fire, health and safety codes at the 93-unit La Paula Apartments complex, 1658-1660 N. Western Ave.--the complex in which the Beverly Hills man served a 30-day sentence in 1987.

In a widely publicized 1985 case, the landlord-neurosurgeon, formerly the chief of staff at Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center in Hawthorne, was sentenced by a Los Angeles Municipal judge to spend 30 days in jail and 30 days in one of his own buildings as punishment for failing to repair his dilapidated rental properties.

“We thought that the previous jail sentence and house arrest had taught him that if he’s not going to abide by the rules, (he should) at least stay out of L.A.” said Deputy City Atty. Richard M. Bobb, who is handling the case.

Avol, whose company, Worldwide Enterprises Inc., is also named as a defendant, is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 24 in Los Angeles Municipal Court. He declined to comment on the matter.

Authorities say Avol has mostly stayed out of the local real estate market since his troubles in the 1980s. But that changed last summer when he regained ownership of the La Paula building after its most recent owner, Joseph Eliav, defaulted on a loan.

According to Bobb, the city Department of Building and Safety gave Eliav 30 days to make repairs at the complex after deficiencies were found during a May investigation by the city Slum Housing Task Force.

Inspectors from the Department of Building and Safety returned in August to find conditions unchanged. By then, Avol had regained ownership, so the repair order was issued to him.

A subsequent inspection in October, during which photographs of the building were taken, led to the current complaint.

“The conditions not only did not get better--they got worse,” Bobb said.

Violations documented by task force inspections during three days in October included a damaged fire hose and fire doors, rodent and cockroach infestations, missing fire extinguishers, damaged plumbing and electrical fixtures, broken doors and windows, damaged walls, floors and ceilings, and accumulations of trash and debris on the premises, officials said.

Between 1979 and 1986, Avol was prosecuted for slum violations at a number of his apartment houses, including the La Paula Apartments. After serving his sentence, Avol moved his residential property business out of the city and, Hahn said, began doing business in the Antelope Valley.