North Hollywood Arts District in Front of Redline North Hollywood

NoHo Arts is a burgeoning Eastward Valley surface area that occupies ane very eclectic, celebrated, and active foursquare mile within the limits of North Hollywood proper. The by couple of years take seen a dramatic increment in multi-use condo construction and the arrival of concatenation retail and food purveyors thanks in role to the neighborhood'south office as major transit hub (NoHo Arts hosts the termini of both the Red and the Orange Lines) and the Community Redevelopment Agency's (CRA) massive efforts to (re)vitalize the surface area. What is at times most striking nearly this vibrant patch of state is the omnipresent contrast of old versus new, equally seen predominantly in the architecture--and in spite of its ain blossoming and undeniable urbanity.

Boundaries: 5 Points Intersection (Lankershim, Camarillo, Vineland) to the South; Burbank Blvd. to the N; 170 Freeway to the West*; Cahuenga Ave. to the Due east.

*In that location appears to be no official Western boundary to the area; this purlieus was selected past the author because of the advent of the "Valley Village" neighborhood sign on the other side of the 170 Freeway, although no "NoHo Arts" sign is in place.

Political Lowdown: Council District iv; Councilmember: Tom LaBonge

28th Congressional District; Rep Howard L. Berman (annotation: some areas eastward of Vineland may fall nether 27th District)

43rd State Assembly District, Rep Paul Krekorian

3rd County Supervisorial Commune, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky

Subway stops: The Metro Red Line and Orange Line both terminate in NoHo Arts at the Due north Hollywood end.

Unremarkably considered: N Hollywood (which information technology is)

People who front say they alive in: Why would people deny living in NoHo Arts? But kidding. Y'all might hear plain quondam Northward Hollywood, or the loftier Toluca Lake-next.

Celeb factoid: Marilyn Monroe attended Lankershim Elementary School, which is located at Bakman and Magnolia in NoHo Arts. [Other famous North Hollywoodians include Amelia Earhart (residence only), Adam Carolla, 90210's Brian Austin Green, and Food Network's Alton Brown.]

A Lilliputian Bit of History: In 1871, a couple of guys named Isaac (that's Isaac Lankershim and Isaac Newton Van Nuys) bought the sixty,000 acres of the entire southern portion of the Valley for $115, 000. The surface area now known every bit North Hollywood (including NoHo Arts) was in one case called just Lankershim, although this confused some people--particularly those who dealt with trains and shipping--considering some buildings, like the mail service office, were called Toluca, and some were called Lankershim, similar the train station. The town was officially designated Lankershim in 1890 when Wilson C. Weddington arrived from Iowa. According to NoHoArtsDistrict.com:

he bought two parcels of country, 12 acres for $720 at what is now Weddington St. and Lankershim Boulevard, and 20 acres at what is at present Riverside Drive and Lankershim Boulevard. He was after appointed postmaster by President Cleveland and ran a Full general Shop and Post Office that was located where the El Portal [Theatre] is today.

Eventually the surface area was renamed North Hollywood, in order to draw in folks based on the glamor and appeal of the nearby area of Hollywood. (This is why this LAist and Due north Hollywood resident sometimes fronts and calls the area "the Northern office of Hollywood.")
In the early on 1900s the area was home to the Bonner Fruit Company, which shipped "1200 tons of fruit per season to major cities dorsum due east" (nohoartsdistrict.com). Their apricot dryers were set upwards in the area that is currently North Hollywood Park, located betwixt Tujunga and the 170 Freeway. The park was designated in 1927, and presently after the LA Public Library opened its branch at that place.

The N Hollywood Branch of the LA Public Library is located in North Hollywood Park, and is named for onetime resident Amelia Earhart

The Mail service Office (pictured higher up) was built in 1936 on land donated past the aforementioned Weddingtons, and remains the area'south primary postal middle to appointment. In addition, the nearby Fire Station (pictured below) at Tujunga and Chandler was opened in 1949, and completes the trio of civic buildings in the area.

Old Meets New: As N Hollywood thrived and wrestled with identity throughout the 20th century, eventually it became a lower-middle class enclave of little stardom and suffered from an increasingly axiomatic case of fail. According to their website, the CRA first adopted North Hollywood in 1979 (this was prior to the establishment of the NoHo Arts Commune as a neighborhood, which occured in 1992). Their Project Area is 743 acres, and adheres nigh to the aforementioned boundaries as NoHo Arts, with the exception of stretching farther north (to Hatteras Street) and southward (to the 101 Freeway), which explains why NoHo Arts banners are hung on Lankershim Boulevard posts by the blue "neighborhood" signs. Major changes did not begin to take identify until the belatedly 1990s, and the outset significant and nearly visually credible change is arguably the opening of the Due north Hollywood Cerise Line Station, which took identify during the No Ho Arts Festival in 2000.

Since then, many of the CRA'due south projects encountered snags and stalls, only accept been in full swing for the past couple of years. The top three projects currently are the NoHo Commons, a three-stage condo and retail development that is in the completion stages of Phase 2 and is located on three country parcels in the surface area of Lankershim and Chandler; the restoration of the North Hollywood Historic Train Depot; and a Metro Mixed-Utilise Projection, which includes more condos and retail that compliments the Commons projection and is currently in its formative stages. The area was adopted because of increased population, the deterioation of structures and historic sites, incompatible use of land, and more. The advisory console studied the area and wrote a written report chosen "Transit and the Arts in NoHo: Building a Vibrant Community" which is bachelor as a pdf via this page. There is a tremendous corporeality of information regarding the Commons and Mixed-Use projects bachelor online as well via the West Coast TNDs (Traditional Neighborhood Design) website, which explains the finer points well-nigh these Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs).

A new condo project dominates the skyline and towers over the old lots that contain industrial yards, some businesses, and old historical locales.

This tarp, which cleverly includes area trivia and history, conceals the fence that surrounds the quondam train station, which is slated to be restored by the CRA.

A tug of the tarp and a zoom of the lens gets us this peek at what remains of the old railroad train station, which is in horrible shape and desperately needs restoration. Go on it, CRA! We honey this edifice and want it to be out in the open up!

Why is it called NoHo Arts? The idea was and is to transform this core part of North Hollywood into a "walkable urban hamlet" (Wikipedia). The area has long been known for its numerous fine art galleries and small-venue theatres, public art, and annual Arts Fest (which did non take identify in 2007 after many years, and seems to be shifting gears to a different kind of festival called "NoHo Scene" scheduled for October 6, 2007). The neighborhood has managed to retain a mostly "independent" vibe, and is dwelling house to numerous not-concatenation retail stores and restaurants, as well as many tattoo parlors, smoke shops, interim schools, vintage clothing shops, furniture liquidators, and trip the light fantastic studios (near notably the Millennium Dance Complex, where Britney sightings are frequent). How long NoHo Arts tin stave off "big box" retail is uncertain; with the Commons comes a Coffee Bean, T-Mobile, and Panda Limited, and even bigger retail is assured with the Metro Multi-Use Projection. One of the major anchor companies in NoHo Arts is the University of Television Arts and Sciences, whose courtyard boasts many busts and statutes of television pioneers and innovators, and which is continued to the Academy Pointe apartments, the first major condo developments in the area. A giant Emmy statue sits atop a fountain (pictured at left) in the Academy's courtyard. The Emmy nominations are announced hither in the plaza (The 59th Almanac Primetime Emmy Award nominations volition be announced here this week, on July 19th).

A statue of Lucille Brawl sits atop a pedestal and marks the archway to the Academy's impressive courtyard.

Theatre in No Ho Arts: Theatre is one of the strongholds of the arts in NoHo, and the Commune is home to over 20 professional theatres, including the nationally lauded Deaf West Theatre, who took their smash hit musical Big River to Broadway, and the El Portal Theatre, which is often featured in film and telly, such as on Scrubs, The Sarah Silverman Program, and Last Comic Continuing. Cheque here for a consummate and official theatre guide.

Where to eat: As LAist'due south Food Editor, and longtime NoHo Arts resident, I tin adjure that food is not always a reason to come up to NoHo Arts. However, people need to eat, so I offer the following:

The newly remodeled Eat (formerly Ned's) on Magnolia for breakfast; Pit Fire Pizza at Lankershim and Magnolia for gourmet pizza, salads, and pastas; The Eclectic Buffet on Lankershim for moderately priced pre or post theatre fare; CeFiore on Lankershim for imitation Pinkberry yogurt (ameliorate than Pinkberry, imho); Sitton'due south at Magnolia and Tujunga for 24 hr greasy spoon fare; Crown Burger stand on Lankershim for cheap teriyaki plates and and then-then burgers; Dragon St. for Chinese (delivery is best); Miyako for Sushi (non the all-time, just they deliver); and you tin can order your pizza from Pizza Homo (skip Domino's, delight!).

Where to drink: The NoBar at 10622 Magnolia Blvd.

Where to buy your groceries: Forget that nasty, price-gouging Ralphs at Magnolia and Vineland and go thee to the newly opened Hows inside the Eatables. They take a decent salad bar and deli counter, a Peet's Coffee, and is a lovely place to store for foodstuffs.

Where to recycle: In the parking lot of the Ralphs shopping center at Vineland and Magnolia.

Where everybody knows your name: At the 'hood's simply Starbucks, Lankershim and Magnolia.

Trivia: During its offset week of business organisation, a car collection onto the patio and crashed through the front end window. This LAist also spent iii months working as a barista there in early 2000.

What's the deal with those colorful crosswalks? It'southward been brought upwards on LAist before. They were redone in Spring 2007 to friction match the new CRA NoHo Arts banners that grace the surface area. This LAist thinks they wait like a Common salt due north' Pepa video gone awry, and wonders what will happen when the CRA decides to go with a new look for their banners.

Where to come across absurd murals: Murals are all over the NoHo Arts Commune, but the stretch of Chandler east of Vineland that extends to Clybourn boasts the amazing Chandler Murals (its start is within NoHo Arts boundaries).

What sort of people call NoHo Arts home? Generally, NoHo Arts hosts low to middle income individuals and families of multiple backgrounds, although the dominant racial groups are whites and hispanics. Many young people movement to the area because of its relative affordability (although rents have near doubled in the past decade) and its proximity to freeways, nightlife, and performing arts locales. It is nevertheless, however, the kind of neighborhood where the Tamale Man shows up every Lord's day forenoon on the streets, the pork rinds and shaved ice guy toots his horn all over on a daily basis, and every now and then an entire mariachi ring squeezes itself into an flat unit of measurement. The park is always total of fitness fanatics, soccer players, families spending time together, and, on weekends, those bouncy houses are ubiquitous. The streets are relatively quiet at nighttime, save for the occasional party and those folks who think anybody in the globe wants to hear the music they've got playing on their car stereos. Of course, if we're talking noise, NoHo Arts is in the flight path of the nearby Bob Hope Airport (approx. three miles east), and in that location is the steady sound of big-scale construction to contend with.

Where to Praise the Lord: Within the boundaries there's St. Paul'south Showtime Lutheran Church (a beautiful building across from the park) and the Christ Chapel of the Valley which is a gay-friendly not-denomonational house of worship on a residential street. Other nearby (and some out-of bounds) churches are listed here.

Where to buy or rent your porn: Odyssey Video, located at the southern tip of NoHo Arts at the v Points intersection (it's tough to say if this is "in" or "out" of bounds).

Adjacent door to the Odyssey used to be the best-named shop-adjacent-door, which was The Iliad Bookshop (get it, dorks?). The Iliad packed up and moved, though, in March 2006, to its new digs, just outside the NoHo Arts boundaries (it's on the E side of Cahuenga at Chandler) and off the beaten path.

This intersection marks the Southern boundary of NoHo Arts, and is referred to as "v Points" (and less lovingly every bit a "clusterfuck" by many). A note to pedestrians, and to urban center planners: Information technology is technically impossible to legally cross from one side to the other in full; if y'all begin at the northeast corner and wish to cross to the southwest corner (i.due east. where Little Toni's restaurant is) you lot cannot do so without jaywalking. Information technology is also ridiculously difficult to cross the wide expanse of Lankershim in the time allotted past the walking signal.

The intersection of Lankershim and Magnolia is at the heart of the NoHo Arts Commune. You might recognize it equally where the car crash at the start of Erin Brockovich was filmed. Many films, commercials, and television shows utilize Lankershim Blvd for locations, mostly in driving scenes.

Let'Southward TAKE A CLOSER Expect AT...

Northward Hollywood Park

The Community and Senior Center is located at the park's northernmost point, at Tujunga and Chandler, beyond from the Burn down Station.

NoHo'due south seniors accept claimed this tiny spot of land for a lilliputian garden.

During the summer months, the pool is a great refuge from the heat for both young and old.

What ameliorate way to continue cool in the rut than to play amongst the sprays of water in this mini water park beside the puddle.

A vigorous game of handball is taking place.

The park is home to several well-populated tennis courts.

NoHo Arts' Transit Hub

Northward Hollywood is the terminal betoken for the Cherry-red Line. It opened in 2000, and during the NoHo Arts Fest--rides were free that weekend!

Three neighborhood maps greet patrons equally they emerge from the depths of the North Hollywood Station. In the distance, Stage I of the Eatables project (condos called "The Gallery") is visible.

Bold and somewhat royal archway to the subway station. As you descend, accept a look at the series of murals depicting the expanse'due south rich history.

The Orange Line'southward dedicated Busway begins in NoHo Arts on Chandler at Lankershim.

An Orange Line Double-decker at the station.

Storefronts and Streetscapes

Along Lankershim, just s of Magnolia, the streets are lined with a variety of businesses. The Many Paths bookstore recently had its Grand Opening, and is next to ane of the nicer restaurants in the surface area, The Eclectic Cafe. Lately the Eclectic has had valet parking on weekend nights, which seems just a tad out of place with the NoHo vibe.

The Avery Schreiber Theatre (named for i of the legends of improv) is on the s side of Magnolia between Vineland and Lankershim. This block hosts many pocket-sized businesses and theatres, including The Age of Innocene vintage shop, among others.

The requisite 24 hour diner. Not great nutrient, unless you lot are either drunk or desperate.

The vibrant Tokyo Delve'south (where you go more than for the shots than the sushi) is located on the W side of Lankershim between Magnolia and Weddington. Along this side of the street are many pocket-size stores and eateries, some of which seem to exist constantly changing.

Wells Fargo'due south new co-operative is one of the business anchors of the recently opened NoHo Commons retail projection.

The El Portal Theatre but might look familiar...

Banking company Heist is gear up to open up in this edifice that in one case was...you guessed it...a bank. Information technology will be a restaurant and bar/nightclub. This belongings has been vacant for years and years, and may take concluding been a bookstore. In the past, it was open up equally an exhibit space during the NoHo Arts Fest.

Just in instance the whole BANK affair was disruptive.

Some other instance of old meets new: The bodily "Night Depository" slot on the side of the Banking concern Heist building.

Begetting the ghostlike traces of some painted on advert from yesteryear, the backside of the Banking company Heist building at Weddington and Lankershim is proof positive that the NoHo Arts aesthetic is very much focused on the blending of by and time to come.

Inside the new Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at the Eatables are these three historical pictures, once over again reflecting the old meets new sensibility of NoHo Arts.

Some examples of NoHo Arts' hidden treasure lie underfoot on the West side of Lankershim between Weddington and Magnolia. They are the names of the stores that were on these lots once upon a time, and were embedded in the entryways, as was once the architectural tradition. It'southward my sincerest hope that these are preserved (although someone drove a fence into "Sporty Knit" etc.) because they are actually absurd.

Housing in NoHo Arts

This is Nick, and he is one of many street corner sign twirlers. The signs are to lure people to look into the many housing opportunities springing up in the area. Often, the twirlers grouping up for grooming and meetings in Due north Hollywood Park, which is truly a sight to behold.

Equally Phase 3 gets underway, the construction in NoHo volition continue to drone onward.

Scaffolding has been a familiar office of the landscape in NoHo Arts for the past few years. These condos are on Magnolia, between Vineland and Lankershim on the north side of the street.

This is Phase I of the Commons, known as The Gallery.

These condos were some of the first to appear on the scene. You go a lovely view of The Orangish Line station. Hmmm...

Although apartment buildings, large and small, dominate the major and side streets, there are notwithstanding many streets full of the California bungalow, picket contend and all. Some, similar this one just Due east of Vineland, even have pink flamingos on their lawn. Many have lovely gardens and vibrant landscaping.

One multi-unit of measurement structure has a darling deco manner balcony perfect for catching some rays.

NoHo Likes Itself...Really. A lot. So they put up a lot of signs to permit you know.

Welcoming yous to NoHo from the north end.

This is a statue by Stephen Schubert chosen "Phoenix Rising" and it is located at the northern entry point to NoHo Arts, where Burbank, Tujunga, and Lankershim run across.

Gracing the Commons at Lankershim and Chandler.

The CRA banners signal the area they've had designated for improvement since 1979, although these banners await a little 1987 to me.

Lastly, you lot may ask: Are there any hos in NoHo? Well, non that nosotros're overtly aware of, though everyone's personal and private practices demand not be discussed. In that location are, notwithstanding, some resident "ho"bos and folks who reside in grouping homes and other such spots who are fond of gathering in the park, at or in front end of the library, on the Starbucks patio, and may meander throughout the residential streets. This is probably why the 'hood's 7-xi at Tujunga and Magnolia posted the following request on a handmade sign:

For one foursquare mile, in that location's a heck of a lot going on in NoHo Arts. Chances are something got left out... but you'll have to come check it out for yourself.

All photos by Lindsay William-Ross for LAist

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Source: https://laist.com/news/entertainment/neighborhood-pr-3