Thai temple food threatened

For 20 years, we've all considered the weekend food court at the North Hollywood Thai Temple a basic part of the Valley's food scene. But as food blogs have been reporting -- and a petition soliciting signatures at last weekend's food court made clear -- the sociable, inexpensive gathering may be doomed. After Sunday, it will close as the result of of neighbors' complaints. It's unclear whether the closure has been forced or whether the temple made the decision on its own.

The closure may not be permanent. The temple's food court committee says it's seeking a way to save the institution, which benefits a Thai school for preteens on the temple grounds. It has plenty of supporters -- food court manager Somkuan Watchinda says more than 1,000 people have signed the petition of support.

The problem is that some residents charge that temple diners litter the streets and cause unacceptable parking congestion. Watchinda disputes the first charge but acknowledges the parking situation -- sometimes adjacent streets are lined with cars for a block or more on weekends.

There's no way for the temple to park all customers on its own grounds, which have room for only about 75 cars. A good deal of potential parking is available under the power poles across the street from the temple, but Watchinda says the city would require the temple to do a minimum of $50,000 worth of landscaping, which it can't afford.

Wat Thai, 8225 Coldwater Canyon Ave., North Hollywood

-- Charles Perry

Photo by Lawrence K. Ho

Comments

[Faye Levy]

August 12, 2007

We went to the Thai Temple today to sign the petition and enjoy the food - it was so good!

They didn't seem very optimistic about keeping the food court going. Some vendors have posted some alternative locations where they are planning to go. There's supposed to be a meeting tonight about which vendors can go to those locations, because none of them have room for everybody.

There's a court hearing later about whether they can continue the food court.

We were told that they will have food booths for certain holidays - the Thai Buddhist New Year around April and in late October/early November for the Buddhist holiday to honor the ancestors.

One friendly lady named "Pay" (pronounced like pie) who makes sticky rice with mangoes, black sticky rice with durian and other sweet treats told me that on weekends her booth (and maybe several others) will be at this address - I guess in their parking lot.

Cha Chaa
12936 Sherman Way
New Hollywood 91605
818-503-8884
[the restaurant hours are 9:30am-11 pm daily]

Other booths are planning to be at Mee Sap restaurant on weekends.

Mee Sap
11020 Vanowen St.
North Hollywood, 91605
818-761-8508
[restaurant is open Tue-Sun, 11a-10 pm.

Faye Levy