The fight to preserve LA’s Carthay Square

You can find the neighborhood of Carthay Square tucked away behind the streets of Little Ethiopia, near Olympic and Fairfax. Most of the houses in the six-street, mid-city neighborhood were built in the 1930s or before, and it’s residents are working to keep it that way.

A group of volunteers set out to make Carthay Square a “Historic Preservation Overlay Zone” (HPOZ) in 2008 – only to look back in frustration six years later. Their efforts have stalled, but not because of opposition to the proposal, or an inadequate application, but simply because no one at the city’s Department of Planning is there to process the application. Quite literally.

Listen to Gideon Brower’s great piece, an d check out pictures and a map of the area over on the DnA blog.