WEST HOLLYWOOD : Chasen’s Neighbors Fight Plan to Raze Stars’ Haunt

More than a dozen neighborhood residents and preservationists gathered in front of Chasen’s restaurant Thursday to protest a developer’s plans to raze the famed eatery and construct a shopping center on the spot.

The Chasen family, longtime owners of the restaurant, reportedly completed a deal to sell the property at Doheny Drive and Beverly Boulevard to developer Ira Smedra, who plans to construct a two-story, 89,000-square-foot retail center.

It would include a supermarket, a drugstore and a revised version of the restaurant, which for 58 years has hosted such Hollywood royalty as the Reagans, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Cagney and Bob Hope.

Some protesters voiced hope that Chasen’s, which has suffered declining revenues in recent years, could be saved by incorporating it intact into a larger development or by adding a museum.

“We’re here to explore possible ways of saving Chasen’s for the community,” said Mary Worley of the Rosewood-Ashcroft Residents Group, a neighborhood association. “It’s got a worldwide name. . . . It would be a shame to give up so easily.”

But some West Hollywood officials say economic factors will most likely determine the property’s fate. The restaurant and its parking lot sit on one of the largest lots in West Hollywood that hasn’t been heavily developed, surrounded by Beverly Center, Beverly Connection and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

“This spot is too big for even another restaurant to take over,” said West Hollywood Councilman Steve Martin. “The high price of the property is only attractive to a large development.”

Neighbors are also concerned that streets would be overloaded by traffic to a new retail center. Others say the shallow water table beneath the site could create construction problems for a proposed underground parking garage.

“What the developer is proposing is out of proportion to the area. . . . It’s another huge complex for our residential neighborhood, and we already have the Beverly Center,” said local resident Allen Klotz.

West Hollywood planning officials say that once Smedra’s proposal is formally submitted, the approval process could take four to six months. It would include a review of community concerns.

For preservationists, Chasen’s is in danger of joining a long list of defunct historic restaurants such as Perino’s, the Trocadero, Ciro’s, Scandia and the Brown Derby.

“If we continue to tear down these landmarks, we will lose our identity,” said Mitzi March Mogul, president of the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles. “People come here from all over the world, and there’s nothing left to see.”