In 2017, Hollywood’s Sunset Square was named a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone, solidifying its place in L.A.’s architectural history. Four years later, Lady Gaga’s dogwalker was shot in the chest outside a vacant house in the middle of the neighborhood.
A small contingent of Sunset Square residents insist the two events are tied together.
A clash is brewing in the affluent enclave, where homes typically sell for $2 million or more. Critics of the HPOZ designation claim the rigorous permitting process is a burden, inviting crime as projects stall and houses stay vacant while mired in red tape. Supporters say the HPOZ is a necessary pain in the quest for preservation — the only thing stopping Sunset Square from turning into another flavorless suburb filled with box houses and McMansions.
As a result of approvals and reviews that come with HPOZ designation, homes often sit empty for years without construction progress.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Ultimately, it’s a microcosm of a larger battle playing out across Southern California as cities ask existential questions in an effort to solve the housing crunch. What’s worth keeping? What’s worth tearing down? And how do we balance the need for more housing with the need to preserve our history?
Developed in the 1970s, L.A.’s HPOZ program serves as a tool to protect and preserve homes in 35 architecturally significant neighborhoods throughout the city such as Hancock Park, Highland Park and Angelino Heights, ensuring houses can’t be torn down or altered too dramatically. These areas, which encompass more than 21,000 properties, add an additional layer of zoning and design review to the city’s typical process, and homeowners need to get approval from a board to make certain changes to the outside of their home.
The goal is simple: preserve the look and legacy of a neighborhood.
A gardener waters the lawn from the porch of a Craftsman-style home in the Sunset Square neighborhood in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
In one sense, Sunset Square is beautifully preserved: its Craftsman bungalows and Spanish Colonial Revivals are pristine, an Old Hollywood time capsule from the era when the neighborhood served as a streetcar suburb along the Pacific Electric Railway Line in the early 20th century.
But uglier nooks are frozen in time as well. Houses left vacant for years. Chain-link fences surrounding half-finished homes. Empty lots strewn with trash.
In HPOZs, developers and homeowners need to navigate the usual city departments, but also the HPOZ board. Skipping a step or working without approval can stall projects for months.
“The original idea of the HPOZ was to protect the historic nature of the neighborhood,” Mason said. “But for a lot of people, this is far from the utopian idea they thought they were agreeing to.”
The property next door to Mason’s home was vacant for years, and she said it was a hot spot for break-ins and drug use. In 2021, she and her neighbors predicted something bad was bound to happen via email exchanges. Weeks later, the dogwalker was shot on the street outside the property.
Mason, who found a bullet casing from the incident in her front yard, called it a consequence of letting the property sit empty for so long.
“It’s the idealism of historic preservation butting up against the cost of human safety,” she said.
The Sunset Square HPOZ was formed in the wake of a controversial house flip — one so brash that it pushed the entire community to rally around historic protections. In 2013, a developer bought a modest Craftsman home on Curson Avenue for $910,000 along with a note promising to preserve the home, according to multiple residents.
A man walks through the front yard of a modern style home that features a mural of a tiger in the Sunset Square neighborhood in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Shortly after, the developer bulldozed the entire place, ripped out trees and erected a 4,700-square-foot box house complete with an eight-foot-tall tiger painted by the front door. In 2015, it sold for $3.385 million.
“It was an assault on our neighborhood,” said Julee Metz, who lived two doors down.
The property became a tipping point, and residents such as JoAnn Koplin pushed for historic protections so other homes wouldn’t be demolished. Koplin collected signatures and documented data to help guide the HPOZ application through.
Now she regrets it.
“I’m sorry I did all that work to get the HPOZ in place,” she said. “There are three empty lots within a block of my house because it takes too long for the city and HPOZ to grant approvals.”
Koplin, an architect, had a problem with strangers stealing packages from her porch or sleeping in her yard, so she built a low wall along the front of her property as a deterrent in July 2024. She said the design of the wall mirrors the ones around it, but since she didn’t consult the HPOZ board before building it, she got an order to tear it down.
JoAnn Koplin, a resident in the Sunset Square neighborhood, looks over a home that is being remodeled and rests behind a screen in Hollywood. Koplin believes homeless people have been using the property and hide their activities behind the screen.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The order hasn’t come with a fine yet, and she’s not sure what the consequences will be if she doesn’t comply. But she doesn’t care.
“It would’ve taken too long to get approved, so I went rogue,” Koplin said. “They want me to take it down, but I won’t.”
Others aren’t so bold. Kate Brown, a Sunset Square resident for 21 years, wanted to renovate the low wall outside her house in 2021, as well as paint the exterior and repair the crumbling stairs entering the property.
She mocked up plans herself and presented them to the HPOZ board but said they were shot down as soon as she pitched them since she didn’t involve an architect. As for the paint color, the board vetoed the “ripe currant” color she wanted, saying she could only use earth tones to match with traditional Craftsman colors.
“I just wanted a brownish purple,” Brown said. “It’s not like I’m painting a tiger on my house.”
As a result, her wall and sidewalk remain unchanged, and her house is painted the same shade of red it was when she moved in.
A woman pushes her baby cart past a home that features extended white fencing in the Sunset Square neighborhood in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Sunset Square’s relatively recent status as an HPOZ has created an interesting dynamic of haves and have-nots in the neighborhood, with many exceptions to the new rules grandfathered in since they were there prior to 2017. One resident can’t choose their house color while another’s is painted bright orange. One house can’t have a wall higher than 42 inches due to city rules, while another sits behind a towering hedge.
The listing for a $2.2-million home on Curson Avenue brags that the house is tucked behind “a grandfathered private gate” that wouldn’t be allowed under current restrictions.
Metz moved out of the neighborhood in 2019 but squeezed in a 600-square-foot addition shortly before the HPOZ rules took effect.
“If we waited until the HPOZ came, it would’ve been a lot harder,” she said. “We got out just in time.”
The most controversial property in the HPOZ debate is 1547 N. Sierra Bonita Ave. In 2021, a developer bought the property and started renovating without approval, including swapping original windows for vinyl — a grave no-no in an HPOZ, almost as offensive as a white plastic fence.
The unpermitted work triggered a review from the board, and the place sat vacant for years as neighbors watched unhoused people take over the property. In 2023, it burned down in a blaze that required 70 firefighters.
The cause was never confirmed, but conspiratorial neighbors note that the fire extricated the owner from a money pit that was drowning in permit violations.
The fire came as no surprise to Koplin, who said there have been several in the neighborhood — to the point that she made a map to document them. The map, which she presented at a neighborhood meeting, highlighted three house fires, three violent attacks and 11 break-ins in the three blocks surrounding her home.
Discarded alcohol containers left behind on the property of a home that is being remodeled in the Sunset Square neighborhood in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
An online map synthesizing LAPD data shows that there have been 147 crimes in Sunset Square and the immediate surrounding area over the last 180 days including arson, assault, burglary and homicide. These numbers aren’t typical for neighborhoods with $2-million homes; however, they’re typical for Hollywood, and an LAPD officer told The Times that while unhoused people often wander through the area, there hasn’t been an uptick in crime since the HPOZ took effect.
Jonathan Cowan, who lives a few doors down from the property and serves on the HPOZ board, blames the developers who break the rules for why their projects are stalled.
“Most projects get approved within the first meeting,” Cowan said. “When someone brings a project that doesn’t meet design review standards, that’s when it takes forever.”
He said the board doesn’t act arbitrarily or use personal taste. Instead, every decision is quoted based on specific guidelines spelled out in the preservation plan, which was drafted and approved by Sunset Square residents.
Some rules aren’t popular for developers looking for a quick flip, but they’re necessary to keep the neighborhood in touch with its roots. Bright colors might pop, but traditional Craftsman homes have earth tones — according to the plan. Dual-pane windows might be better for fire protection, but they don’t retain the historic character of the house — according to the plan.
“The whole point of preservation is to maintain the historic look,” Cowan said. “Don’t buy a house next to an airport and complain about the noise.”
Laura Grenfell, who has served on the Sunset Square Neighborhood Organization since 2017, said more than two dozen neighbors have completely renovated their homes under the HPOZ with no issue. She added that the historic atmosphere has made Sunset Square a hot spot for film shoots, and the neighborhood keeps a list of projects shot there, including “Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Hollywood” and “American Horror Story.”
“Sunset Square is like a museum in the streets. The HPOZ has allowed it to retain the architectural character that makes it valuable not only to residents, but also to L.A.’s history, tourism, and film industry,” Grenfell said. “It does require extra steps, but I think the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience.”
A spokesperson for the planning department pushed back on the premise that the HPOZ slows down projects and said more than 90% of applications within the Sunset Square HPOZ go through an expedited review process, meaning they don’t involve formal hearings before the board.
Out of 127 HPOZ cases filed since 2021, only four have required the full review, which involves a public hearing and 75-day review period. During that time, the HPOZ has approved 100 smaller applications within 21 days and also approved 23 ADUs, the spokesperson said.
But for those like Mason, Koplin and Brown still battling over small tweaks to their homes — paint colors, fences, etc. — the HPOZ has become a lesson in being careful what you wish for.
“It’s a pain in my ass,” Brown said.
