Footprint of Hollywood Farmers' Market may change to resolve parking issue

This post has been corrected. See the note at bottom for details.

Parts of Hollywood Boulevard would be set aside for the Hollywood Farmers' Market in one scenario being considered by organizers negotiating with the Los Angeles Film School over parking for the popular Sunday event.

The plan was proposed by the film school and shared with market organizers Monday, said former City Councilman Michael Woo, chairman of the board for the group that runs the market.

DATABASE: Explore your local farmers' markets

Wood said the plan would would entail closing all or part of Hollywood Boulevard between Cahuenga Boulevard and Vine Street.

Another proposal calls for moving the market to Vine Street between Hollywood and Sunset boulevards.

Under both scenarios, the market would continue to occupy two blocks of Selma Avenue, a short stretch of Cosmo Street and the block of Ivar Avenue north of Selma.

But the boundaries would no longer include the stretch of Ivar south of Selma and north of Sunset Boulevard. The city denied the market a permit for that block last year, in part because film school officials complained it cut off access to a garage entrance.

City Councilman Eric Garcetti helped the market win an extension of its permit until at least May 17 to give organizers a chance to work out a compromise with the film school.

Woo said the board of the nonprofit that runs the market will meet Sunday to discuss the possible shifts of the market footprint.

He said the proposal to move to market to Hollywood Boulevard is probably the one they will consider most seriously. That proposal would expand the boundaries of the market, he said, but it would disrupt traffic and require city buses to be rerouted.

It also raises safety concerns, he said, and could require guardrails and possibly traffic officers. In 2003, an elderly man mistakenly drove his car into the Santa Monica Farmers Market, killing nine people.

Woo said safety would be paramount but the market "would not want to absorb the cost of paying for additional security."

At the outset of negotiations late last year, market organizers promised to study potential adjustments to its footprint, including alternative layouts on adjacent streets.

Film school administrators said they would review the feasibility of joining the parking garage that is blocked by the market with another parking structure to resolve the access problem.

Woo said film school officials have since "indicated that they are not willing to explore that option."

School officials have said they support the market in Hollywood, but they need access to their parking structure.

[For the record, 11:57 a.m., April 26: A previous version of this post misidentified the Los Angeles Film School as the Hollywood Film School.]

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Image: Map shows location of Hollywood Farmers' Market. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[mark]

easy solution- change the law so the farmers market can get their permit without needing permission for a majority of adjacent property owners.

[Jimbob]

So a film school wants access to their parking garage on a Sunday and their idea to help out involves shifting the farmers market from a pair of comparatively little-used side streets to Hollywood Blvd, thereby closing one of the busiest streets in the entire city for a few hours. Sounds like an actually terrible idea or a thinly-veiled attempt to get the city to pay for reconfiguring their parking structure.

[Chad]

LA Film School just lost any shred of help that I will ever give them. Routinely students come to me with their projects and this arrogant move means that I will no longer consider anything from any of their students.

[bobbyg]

That's CRAZY. Block off the thousands of people who use Hollywood Blvd, for the dozen people who park at the Film School, on sunday mornings???

Come on, Los Angeles Film School! Why are you being such jerks?

God forbid Hollywood actually keep a tradition going, and God forbid there actually be something nice, clean, safe, and family oriented in Hollywood, for the locals and tourists both to walk to and enjoy in Hollywood.

If the residents of Hollywood could vote, I am sure that they'd prefer to kick out the Film School, rather than the Farmer's Market. I know I would.

[Joe Town]

The Los Angeles Film School can't possibly stay in business for much longer. Why can't the law be changed so that one bad egg like this school isn't able to use the law as a bully pulpit and get their way.

The Hollywood Farmers' Market serves thousands. The L.A. Film "School" serves a small section of people who don't realize that they'll be paying a lot of money for very little gain. Can we get a list of L.A. Film School graduates and the accolades they've earned?

[Lost City Of Angels]

Yeah, a "farmers market" goes really nice with Hollyweird. Never got that.

[Mary]

The Los Angeles Film School owners are in this for money, they are looking for a cash settlement. I wonder how many of their unspecting students actually get a decent job after graduating from this "film school"

[Lost Lambs]

Yeah, a "farmers market" goes really nice with Hollyweird. Never got that.

Posted by: Lost City Of Angels | April 26, 2011 at 12:53 PM

Mr. Lost City Of Angels: You don't get it because you are ignorant. Not stupid, but woefully ignorant. Otherwise you would know that Hollywood is simply a city like any other that contains people that need to eat food in order to live.

[steveg68]

A lot of film school students shoot their projects on the weekends, and they utilize equipment and space provided by the school, so it seems logical that they would need access to the parking garage in order to pick up the equipment and/or park for use of the school's studio space.

It makes no sense to close off a major thoroughfare for 8 hours on Sunday. Why not Yucca and Ivar?

[swhitS]

LA Film School are jerks, whether Monsanto is paying them off to get rid of the Farmers Market or not they are siding with the enemy.
No support from me ever!

[bobbyg]

Is the LAFS cares soooo much about their students' parking -- why do they charge their students seven bucks to park? On top of their $41,720 tuition, for a 12 week degree.

They also have another parking lot with 120 spaces that they DO have total access to. It's 3/4 empty on Sundays.

[HollywoodRez]

here's an idea... leave it ON SELMA, but just three blocks east - from VINE across ARGYLE & stretching down to EL CENTRO. those streets are not heavily used & the new Trader Joe's parking lot can be open from Vine Street for those trying to enter there AND used as a paid parking lot for those who drive down to the Farmer's Market. problem solved.

[Go to Gehena]

The Hollywood Farmers' Market is the largest open air market in Los Angeles. It is packed every Sunday with people buying fresh produce and other food items for the week. It is a benefit to the community and to the surrounding businesses. The LA Film School was established in 1999. The Hollywood Farmers' Market has been in operation for nearly 20 years. In 2010, The LA Film School was in a contentious battle with the California Teacher's Union over organizing their instructors. Several instructors were fired for their organizing efforts. LA Film School is a private "for profit" institution. The Hollywood Farmers' market is a non profit organization. Many students who attend the LA Film school pay between $37,900 to $42,720 for the entire 12 to 18 month degree program. To cover their costs 93 percent of students at LAFS take out loans, averaging $51,281.


What is better for the community?

[Andy]

The Los Angeles Film School should be shut down for pulling this crap! What a bunch of jerks!

[garagehero]

Am I the only sane person on this board? The boundries are being changed not because of the film school, who , like any other business or school, have the right to access their parking, but the Farmers Market, who seeks to run their market without the legal and common sense restrictions that everyone else has to adhere to. A farmers market is not a sacred cow, folks. Its a business like any other. I have seen the Hollywoods market, as well as dozens of others scattered throughout the city, county and state, and the Holywood location has got to be the most whacked out location I've ever seen. And the so-called solution is worse. Why should thousands of Angeleno motorists and public transport users have to be re-routed and inconvenienced for the few hundred yuppies who use the Farmers Market?? There are dozens of other sites north and south of Hollywood blvd where the market can be set-up, which would call for only the market-day closures of small side streets. It seems to me , whoever picked the original site, and those who gave to go-ahead, are the ones who really didnt think it out so well and are to blame for the current problems. This is one of the reasons our city is so dysfunctional....you have a few yuppy activists who try and force their views on millions, and then use their political and media connections to skip over the laws that all the rest of us must abide by. BTW, you want to see a model Farmers Market in terms of location and set-up??? Check out those in San Gabriel Valley, and specifically, the one in South Pasadena. Absoultely the BEST! Another good example is the Wednesday Kaiser/Farmers Market at the Barnsdall Park parking lot. It is held in a high trafffic area, (Hollywood/Sunset/Vermont/Franklin) in East Hollywood, but does not infringe on ANY public road. Maybe these are well-run markets because the decision making has been taken out of the hands of hysterical yuppies and put into the hands of real farmers and market organizers.

[Suzie Q]

The film school is a racket, so why don't they play tennis on Sundays?

[Michael]

I used to work next to the LA Film School...the students pay somewhere around 50k a year!! Im sure the school can suck it up and do alittle renovation...especially since theyre only gonna be offering 1 or 2 classes on sundays anyways...

[greg]

this is the first time i've heard that incense grew on farms and paperclip sculptures grew on farms....gee get rid off the non farm vendors and then you have space...or maybe the farmers market could RENT the parking lot on the corner and put vendors in that...oh yea, the farmers market wants it for free and they want every one else to pay for the event they have and when they make money they keep all the profit..

I disagree with the farmers market sense of entitlement.

[monique]

The Hollywood Market has been there for 20 years. The LA Film School knew about the market when they came in. It's as if I bought a house in the hills and the downhill neighbor's tree blocked my view. I bought the house anyhow, and then I told them to chop it down. They refuse. That is their right, they were there first. Also, the market is enjoyed by thousands. The film school preys on the dreams of a few. They charge students for parking already, they can provide them with other options on Sunday.

[bobbyg]

garagehero ... "yuppies?"

If you think the Hollywood Farmers Market is full of "yuppies" then you've never been to the Hollywood Farmers Market.
... Do people even say "yuppies" anymore? Have you left you're house since the 90s, garagehero?

The Market is in such a perfect spot right now, on the quietest streets in Hollywood, where it blocks NO sunday public transportation routes. NONE. Only ONE entity in Hollywood is complaining, this rip-off film school.

[Farmers Market Fan]

garagehero:

you need to get your facts straight. The same organization runs both the Sunday Hollywood and Wednesday Barnsdall Park farmers' markets.

[Michael Woo]

I'd like to clarify the second sentence of the article. The L.A. Film School is not responsible for proposing the possibility of closing part or all of either Hollywood Boulevard or Vine Street. These alternatives have come up in conversations between City of L.A. officials and representatives of SEE-LA, the nonprofit organization which runs the Hollywood Farmers Market. No decisions have been made about any of the alternatives. On Sunday, May 1, the SEE-LA board will meet to discuss the various alternatives for addressing the Film School's objections to the current footprint of the Market and the short- and long-term costs involved in any change to the Market's current footprint.

Michael Woo
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles (SEE-LA)

[arbo48]

garage hero, are you taking the 12 or the 18 month film school course?

[RG]

Film school administrators said they would review the feasibility of joining the parking garage that is blocked by the market with another parking structure to resolve the access problem.

Woo said film school officials have since "indicated that they are not willing to explore that option."

===================================
REALLY?!

So what's the REAL reason you want to kill the Hollywood Farmer's Market? If you, Los Angeles Film School, are not willing to even look at the most logical and least offensive way to resolve this issue, I can't believe you really want it solved. Seems like you just want to screw over the Market and inconvenience the rest of Hollywood on Sunday mornings.

My walk away from this - Hollywood Farmer's Market = awesome! Los Angeles Film School = awful!

[LocalGal]

From every single account I have read, the Film School are being total jerks. Why the heck is the city bending to them?

What a crazy idea: let's close a major thoroughfare so that the Film School can access a little-used parking facility on Sunday mornings.