For Sale: Shack With a Swanky Address

A tiny metal-plating shop that became a Los Angeles landmark for operating in the shadow of the giant Pacific Design Center has closed after 27 years.

Hugo Castaneda surrendered the keys to the 900-square-foot West Hollywood cottage that housed his Hugo’s Plating Co. on Thursday. He was evicted by two sisters who own the small parcel, which is surrounded on three sides by the design center.

Owners Emma and Otilla Diaz put the property up for sale in April after Castaneda told him he was unable to afford a rent increase from $450 a month to $1,000.

The sisters had refused to sell the lot to the developers of the design center in the early 1970s, when the 750,000-square-foot furnishings showroom, nicknamed the “Blue Whale,” was being planned.

As a result, the focal point of the center’s entryway became a tarpaper-roofed shack instead of a sleek, landscaped plaza.

For the past quarter-century, the tiny wood-framed building has served as a humorous symbol of the contrast between the new Los Angeles and the old. Over the years, however, Pacific Design Center operators said they became comfortable co-existing with Castaneda and his humble shop.

The sisters took the cottage and its lot off the market during the summer. But now that Castaneda is gone, a buyer will once again be sought, real estate agent John Tronson said.

The property was listed in April at $325,000, according to real estate agent Chris Bonbright, who is also involved with the property.

Castaneda said he is leaving the Melrose Avenue site with mixed emotions. He said new jobs have been found for two longtime employees who helped refurbish doorknobs, light fixtures and other home furnishings by dipping them in vats of heated nickel, brass and copper.

But he is finished, Castaneda said. “I won’t reopen somewhere else. I’m retiring,” he said.