WINNETKA : Meeting to Focus on Retail Revitalization

Dozens of architects, urban planners and west San Fernando Valley community leaders will gather in Winnetka beginning today to devise ways to revive the flagging commercial strips of Canoga Park and Reseda.

Once two of the most bustling retail districts in the Valley, the downtown areas of both communities have fallen on hard times in the past decade and were heavily damaged in the Northridge earthquake.

But optimistic merchants and residents are hoping the damage wrought by the earthquake will give way to communities that are friendlier and livelier than they have been in recent years.

“The potential is here, definitely,” said Bill Brady, past president of the Canoga Park Chamber of Commerce, as he described the diversity of shops in both his neighborhood and Reseda.

Realizing that potential, however, has been difficult.

So Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents both communities, organized a two-day workshop to connect community leaders with planners and architects adept at turning around failing retail areas such as the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and Old Town Pasadena.

The workshop will begin at 2 p.m. today at the Marie Manogian Elementary and Sarkis and Seta Demirdjian High School at 6844 Oakdale Ave. with tours of the communities and discussions on the opportunities for improvement.

More intense discussions start Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and continue through the day, with a special session for public comments between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. A final report detailing ways to implement and to pay for changes will be prepared. “Our philosophy is that the final report will serve as a starting point,” Chick Planning Deputy Ken Bernstein said.

Already, community members are talking about ways to spruce up their neighborhoods. Some in Canoga Park, for instance, want to promote the antique stores along Sherman Way or try to reopen a closed adult movie theater as a concert hall or community playhouse.

Along the same lines, some merchants in Reseda along Sherman Way and Reseda Boulevard want to make facade improvements so the mishmash of buildings appears more uniform.