‘Tara’ Residents Prepare for Eviction

Residents who for two years have fought efforts to convert the “Tara” house in West Hollywood into a senior condo complex prepared Friday for a midnight eviction.

The Laurel Avenue property has been the subject of a preservation battle between residents and the city, which owns the structure. The debate has come to symbolize what critics have called West Hollywood’s poor record of preserving its historic buildings.

The house belonged to Elsie Weisman, who gave it to the city upon her death in 2000 at the age of 101. The city wants to convert the property into a 35-unit senior living complex.

Allegra Allison, who has lived in the house for 28 years as Weisman’s tenant, said she and other members of the West Hollywood Neighborhood Alliance are trying to persuade the city to instead make the house a cultural center.

“She [Weisman] didn’t give it to the city to give it away,” said Allison as she packed her belongings alongside her boyfriend, Kent Woker, who has lived in the house for 10 1/2 years.

Critics of the redevelopment say the plans do not reflect the wishes of Weisman, who wanted the house preserved when she left it to the city.

“She was so proud of it and she was clearly under the impression that the city would preserve it,” said Steve Martin, a West Hollywood City Council member from 1994 to 2003.

“I don’t think she ever thought there would be no change,” he said. “But [the housing plan] is pretty much a mockery of what she thought it would be like.”

City officials could not be reached for comment Friday. In the past, they have said they hoped the project would keep the Tara house’s Colonial-style look.

The plans call for additions to the structure, but the city said they would be made in a sensitive way.

City leaders have argued that West Hollywood desperately needs more housing for senior citizens.

Paul Zimmerman, executive director of the nonprofit West Hollywood Community Housing Corp., one of the city’s partners in the project, said Tara tenants were supposed to vacate the house within six months of Weisman’s death.

But years passed and the city did not decide to pursue the property until 2002, when Zimmerman’s organization was approached to come up with financing and plans for senior living.

Obtaining a grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, the developers have proposed a $4.2-million expansion.

The City Council has not voted on the final project, so opponents still hope to block it. They acknowledge they face an uphill fight.

Zimmerman said the plans submitted to the city would not change the look of Tara from the street.

“The City Council would have to decide what’s the use that would give the most public benefit,” he said.

Critics are hoping the city will keep Tara as it is.

“We want the whole thing to become a park,” said Allison. “People love it.”