A ‘Quirky’ Business Sign in Studio City

The Times editorialized that Studio City Hand Car Wash should be allowed to keep its sign, even though it violates the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan, because it’s quirky, fun and eclectic (“This Car Deserves a Hand,” Feb. 6). The sign is certainly quirky. And it’s hard not to admire the moxie of the carwash owner who has skillfully cast this as a confrontation between a resourceful business owner and humorless city officials and homeowners groups.

It’s easy to poke fun at the Studio City Residents Assn. and the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns. This tussle over a sign is what passes for a problem in our area. We are very lucky. But one reason this is still a nice place to live is the tireless efforts of those residents groups. Ventura Boulevard in Studio City still has a charming, small-town atmosphere. That didn’t happen by accident.

“Good planing requires not just good rules but good judgment,” you write. I would counter that good rules are nothing without good enforcement--and that means not making exceptions just because a sign is “quirky” or the business owner is a clever and engaging self-promoter. If the city makes an exception in this case, other businesses up and down the boulevard will feel free to flout the rules too. And if the city decides to draw the line at the next sign, or the one after that, that could open the city up to charges of unfairness and even discrimination. It’s better to be consistent and apply rules evenly and dispassionately.

For flagrantly violating the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan, the carwash owner got publicity beyond his wildest dreams. Fair enough. But to let him keep the sign too would make the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan not worth the paper it’s written on.

PAUL GREIN

Studio City

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Those who dwell in editorial ivory towers have no business prescribing what those in Studio City who live in the shadow of that ghastly carwash sign should accept.

If The Times thinks that sign is so much “fun,” buy it and install it in front of The Times building on Times Mirror Square. That, at least, would get that eyesore out of our community!

HAROLD D. WATKINS

Studio City

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Re “Galpin Motors Proposes Sign 108 Feet Tall,” Feb. 10.

Now that the city has apparently caved in on enforcing the law on the illegal Studio City carwash sign, it seems that [Galpin owner Bert Boeckmann] interprets this to mean “the sky’s the limit.” My house is hard to find. I’m thinking about a 200-foot lighted billboard to assist my guests.

JACK BAILEY

Studio City