In L.A., public spaces, private places

As long as people have built homes in Los Angeles near canyon parks or along the seashore, they have had to cope with the fact that their coveted private real estate abuts prized public land.

The tension between residents and visitors has escalated recently in the Hollywood Hills, with two neighborhoods taking their complaints to city officials. In the area beneath the Hollywood sign, residents say increasing numbers of tourists drawn to the landmark are clogging narrow streets and causing traffic hazards.

In upper Nichols Canyon, residents of Solar Drive, which is near an entrance to Runyon Canyon Park and offers a panoramic view of the city, say they deal nightly with people who park and party into the late-night and early morning hours. At the residents’ request, the Los Angeles City Council recently agreed to allow them to erect a gate across Solar Drive for 18 months to keep out unwanted car traffic. Pedestrians will still have access to Runyon Canyon Park.

Both Susan Mullins, the president of the Upper Nichols Canyon Neighborhood Assn., and Tom LaBonge, the Los Angeles city councilman who represents the area, call the gate a last resort. “When you live near a public park, you’ve got to expect the public,” said LaBonge. “But there has to be respect for the neighborhood.”

And there appears to be very little of that from the nightly visitors who loiter in their cars — sometimes having sex, residents say — or on the curb, drinking, smoking, playing loud music. Police can’t patrol regularly. Nor are calls about noise and loitering as high a priority as calls reporting imminent danger. In the morning, residents clean up the trash — empty bottles, used condoms and, worst of all, cigarette butts and matches in the brush.

The price for living near a magnificent view is having to share it with the public. Residents near the Hollywood sign should resign themselves to this reality — and stop putting up their own churlish signs warning tourists to stay away. With the exception of gates to deter violent crime in neighborhoods at risk for it, we do not support closing off public streets. At least the gate on Solar Drive will allow pedestrian access.

There are other tactics residents could have employed. Mullins says residents nixed private security because, among other reasons, a private guard can’t order someone to leave a public street. But a security patrol car might have worked. Permit parking would bring enforcement officers to ticket cars. Motion-detector lights would make the curbside less inviting. With a spotlight — literally — on their boorish behavior, the party people would get the message and move on.