Too many nail salons on Main Street
DOWNTOWNHigh gas prices and standstill traffic have nothing to do with Tomi Mossessian’s decision to rely on his feet for transportation.
He simply doesn’t see the need to jump behind the wheel when work, the supermarket, and restaurants are all within a one-mile radius.
“I walk and bike around all week,”he said.“I can go a whole week without driving.”
Mossessian lives in the center of Downtown, where his every need can be basically met with just a short walk,whether it’s to pick up the dry cleaning around the corner,buy some groceries at the nearby Vons,or grab a quick bite to eat at the local cafe.
In a time of increasing gridlock and concerns of global warming, Mossessian’s lifestyle is one that city officials have been trying to perpetuate throughout Santa Monica, encouraging — and soon requiring — mixed-use developments that would incorporate neighborhood-serving uses on the ground floor.
The idea behind adding such retail — which could include everything from a shoe repair store to a cafe — is to encourage residents who live in the buildings to shop locally.
“A major portion of trips that happen during the day are really residential trips where people are going to banks, going to grocery (stores), going to drug stores,” Eileen Fogarty, the planning and community development director, said.
The concept is addressed directly in the Land Use and Circulation Element,which is the update to City Hall’s general plan. The LUCE, which is currently undergoing environmental and economic review, would require that any new development incorporate neighborhood-serving uses and be located along transit corridors, making it easier for residents to run errands without jumping in a car.
Such retail will come into play in the old industrial area,which is relatively devoid of residential units. Any new residential projects there will require neighborhood-serving retail, Fogarty said.
The downtown area is a good example of how residents can survive without an automobile, which is true in the case of Mossessian, who works from home.
Such wasn’t the case when he lived in Westlake Village and had to commute to Downtown Los Angeles.
“I got to see the other extreme,”he said. While Downtown is abundant with businesses, some residents say that some of the ground-floor retail in newer developments are not necessary neighborhood-serving.
“I know over there they have a casting office,” Deborah Wilson, a resident, said pointing to a Downtown building. “Is that something — to walk around the neighborhood and go casting?”
Wilson, who lives on 14th Street, said she would consider a Starbucks or Winchell’s as attractive additions to the neighborhood.
One of the biggest mixed-use developers in Downtown is the Santa Monica Collection, which is owned by Craig Jones, his apartments occupying plots of land up and down Fifth, Sixth and Seventh streets.
The ground floor of a handful of newer buildings located close to Colorado Avenue are occupied by businesses that some residents might not consider as catering to the neighborhood, uses that include a casting agency and a doctor that offers laser skin surgery.
“It’s generating (traffic) from Beverly Hills and Century City and increasing car trips,”Ted Winterer, an Ocean Park resident and City Council candidate who supports capping commercial development, said about the laser surgery office.
But developments a few blocks north — including several Santa Monica Collection projects — do incorporate businesses that accommodate area residents, including a restaurant on the corner of Seventh and Santa Monica Boulevard, and a new restaurant that’s slated to open on the corner of Sixth and Broadway.
Rafael Padilla, a broker with PAR Commercial Brokerage, which leases for the Santa Monica Collection buildings, said several factors are taken into consideration when choosing a suitor for a retail space, including how the use would benefit the building and the residents. He mentioned tenant La Botte restaurant, which is located on Seventh and Santa Monica, as an example, pointing out that what was then an unknown cafe is now one of the most popular Italian eateries in Los Angeles.
“We based the decision on what not only will benefit the landlord, but benefit the building, the tenants and the city,”he said.“We went with a local operator versus a national operator.”
City officials said they believe that the concept of neighborhood-serving uses has been successful thus far, preserving the small mom and pops atmosphere of the neighborhoods.
“You do it with good land planning and then the stores will want to come in,” Mayor Herb Katz said.“They know they will be served and that people will come.”
Some residents agree.Tyler Mayor,who lives on Idaho Avenue near Sixth, said he once went a whole month without his truck and ended up skating and riding everywhere.
“Everything is so close,”Mayor said. But there is something he would like to see more near his neck of the woods — bars and restaurants.
Ben Miller, who for three years lived on Sixth and Broadway, recalled more convenient times, enjoying the closeness of restaurants. He now lives on Harvard where eateries are a bit sparse, but the trade-off is more square footage for the same rent.
“There are still little restaurants close enough that we can walk,”he said.
While more mixed-use and neighborhood-serving stores could be a positive for residents, it spells more competition to existing businesses.
Katz said it’s not up to City Hall to control the marketplace, but rather ensure neighborhoods thrive.
“They have to fight it out themselves,” Katz said of businesses.“If they, then so be it.”
In some cases, it could mean more traffic to the area. Main Street in particular has been a draw for nail and hair salons the past few years.
The new Archstone on the corner of Bicknell Avenue and Main recently added a hair salon on the ground floor. The residential development is also expected to welcome a new wine and cheese shop.
The plethora of hair and nail salons is actually creating more traffic, drawing people from out of town, Winterer said.
“It’s increased parking congestion because there’s such a concentration of those establishments in one area,”he said.
Just two blocks up from the 18th Street Coffeehouse — which has called its small corner on Broadway home the past 12 years — is a new residential project,its ground floor soon to be occupied by a cafe.For the employees at 18th Street Coffeehouse, the more the merrier.
“We are hoping that it increases business and foot traffic on the street,” Angus Farrowe, the manager, said. “We’re hoping that it’ll also have some small stores and boutiques going into it.
“Anything to bring more traffic our way, we’ll take it.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 16, 2008. Read the original PDF.