BEVERLYPRESS.COM INSIDE • Schiff reacts to inauguration pg. 3 Sunny today • BH residents with rain this arrested in weekend Capitol riot pg. 4 Volume 31 No. 3 Serving the Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Hancock Park and Wilshire Communities January 21, 2021 BH mulls ban on changes City gets tough on requiring masks n Koretz calls for more to multi-city property lines enforcement on buses n Planning appeal pushes council to take action BY EDWIN FOLVEN BY CAMERON KISZLA 1034 Hillcrest Road in Beverly More than nine months after its Hills and two facing 9468 W. Sierra introduction, the Los Angeles City Beverly Hills may ban adjust- Mar Drive in Los Angeles – into Council approved a motion on ments to property lines that straddle two lots. Jan. 13 putting teeth into require- the border between Beverly Hills The existing Hillcrest Road lot is ments that masks be worn in pub- and nearby cities. entirely within Beverly Hills, while lic while COVID-19 public health On Jan. 12, the City Council con- the two Sierra Mar Drive lots are in orders are in place. sidered an appeal of a decision the Los Angeles. Under Gozlan’s plan, The motion, first introduced on Beverly Hills Planning the two Los Angeles lots would be April 7 by Councilman Paul Commission made last year to deny merged, while portions of each lot Koretz, 5th District, authorizes developer Shalom Gozlan the right multiple city departments to issue to combine three lots – one facing See Property page 21 administrative citations to people failing to wear masks. Until last week, people were required to wear masks in public under Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Safer at photo by Todd Hoffman Home orders, but there were few Todd Hoffman, a frequent bus rider, claims not enough is being done legal ramifications if they did not to enforce mask-wearing on public transportation. comply. The Los Angeles Police Department was authorized to of Recreation and Parks, noncompliance of the city’s mask enforce rules in the most egre- Department of Building and mandate, and he hopes citations gious cases, such as when some- Safety, Department of Animal will prompt people to take the one becomes threatening or vio- Services and Bureau of Street requirement seriously. lent when told to wear a mask, but Services can issue citations, which “We know that the best preven- otherwise was not tasked with carry a $250 fine for a first offense tion is strict compliance with general enforcement of mask and will be enforced by the Los health guidelines, which include photo by Cameron Kiszla wearing. Angeles City Attorney’s Office. avoiding crowds, social distanc- The Los Angeles portion of the three lots in question towers over the Following the City Council’s Koretz believes the current surge Beverly Hills portion, which is in Trousdale Estates. approval, the LAPD, Department in cases of COVID-19 is linked to See Mask page 21 Beverly Hills denies Restaurant Row hotel Nurses denounce plans BY LAURA COLEMAN The Beverly Hills Planning Commission rejected a plan for an to close Olympia hospital eight-story hotel at the south end of n UCLA Health offers property to UCLA Heath for an Restaurant Row at 55 N. La undisclosed amount and has not Cienega Blvd. during its Jan. 14 to lease property to disclosed any further plans about meeting. The proposal submitted by current operator its role in the medical center’s developer Abraham Assil would immediate future. have created 216 hotel rooms at the BY EDWIN FOLVEN Nurses from Olympia Medical current home of the Stinking Rose Center held a virtual protest on restaurant, abutting a residential The future of Olympia Medical Jan. 18, denouncing Alecto’s zone. Center remains uncertain after it decision to close the hospital, “We have to uphold our stan- was announced on New Year’s particularly during a surge in the dards and our principles, and this Eve that the hospital would cease COVID-19 pandemic. The Dec. just doesn’t meet them,” Planning rendering courtesy of the city of Beverly Hills all operations after March 31. 31 announcement surprised the Commission Chair Peter Ostroff A proposal to develop an eight-story hotel on Restaurant Row was shot The hospital’s owner, Alecto said. down by the Beverly Hills Planning Commission. Healthcare Services, has sold the See Olympia page 22 The commission unanimously supported denying the proposal. hotel. ing height, floor area and commer- Vice Chair Lori Greene Gordon, “Throughout the last four years, cial-residential transitional use who was part of the City staff has expressed concerns to the standards. Council/Planning Commission liai- applicant about the scale of the pro- According to the report, staff son which concluded last August posed development, as well as the brought the project to the Planning that the project should not move quality of the submittal materials,” Commission to definitively deny forward given its scale and design, the staff report read. “Staff does not the project in an effort to prevent was not in attendance for the 4-0 feel that the project can be support- additional expenditures of city time vote. ed at this time, or that the submitted and money. Assil originally filed the develop- materials are adequate to continue The city received multiple letters ment application in May 2016. further review of the project at this from residents opposing the project Since then, planning staff has time.” and several residents spoke out dur- reviewed and provided numerous According to the staff report, as ing the meeting. correction letters to the developer proposed, the project did not com- “The subject property is literally photo by Cameron Kiszla on various iterations of the project, ply with several Beverly Hills Olympia Medical Center is currently treating more than three dozen one of which proposed a 247-room municipal code standards, includ- See Hotel page 22 people with COVID-19, employees say. 2 January 21, 2021 Park Labrea News/Beverly Press CALENDAR WeHo holds first community “Smile” earned them a place in the Thursday, Feb. 25, at 9 p.m. Directed Mapping Songwriters Hall of Fame. Tickets are by Laura Savia and Jess McLeod, $25; ticket buyers may stream the per- “Hi, Are You Single?” was previously L.A. panel formance for 24 hours. thewallis.org. recorded with a limited live audience. Learn about UCLA’s pioneering digi- housing element update From encounters with drag queens to tal projects to map Los Angeles and platonic lap dances, Haddad guides By laura coleman enable people to visualize and inter- the audience through the gay dating act with the city’s layered histories Tribute to scene. Tickets are $20. woollymam- The city of West Hollywood held during an online panel discussion moth.net. an introductory webinar on the hosted by the Fowler Museum on Ed Krieger housing element update on Jan. 19, Friday, Jan. 22, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. The Fountain Theatre will host “L.A. offering the community its first For the first time, the panel will bring Theatre Pays Tribute to Ed Krieger,” a chance to publicly ask questions together contributors to the Mapping virtual memorial for longtime theater Art of Bill Viola and offer input into the process. Jewish Los Angeles and Mapping photographer Ed Mark your calendars for an online The city will be tasked with Indigenous L.A. projects, and the Krieger on conversation about artist Bill Viola building approximately 4,000 new Fowler’s Vermont Avenue project. Sunday, Jan. 24, and his installation “Slowly Turning at 2 p.m. Krieger Narrative” in LACMA’s collection on units by 2029, although the final photo by Edwin Folven The results will be explored to pro- vide a better understanding of the died on Dec. 16 Monday, Jan. 25, at noon. Held on number will be solidified next West Hollywood held the first of month. city’s cultural and spiritual geogra- at the age of 73. Viola’s 70th birthday, the program several meetings in which resi- Born in Chicago, “The housing element, while it phies. The ultimate goal is to deter- features David A. Ross, chair of MFA dents will be able to provide input Krieger pho- plans for where units will go in the mine how the information may Art Practice at the School of the tographed the Visual Arts and a longtime friend of city, it does not require the city to on housing. inform museum practices in the Southern California theater scene for the artist, with Carol S. Eliel, senior build the units that are planned in future. fowler.ucla.edu. more than 30 years. His production curator of Modern Art at LACMA. the housing element,” Acting Long ate co-living housing. stills captured live performances at Admission is free with RSVP. Range Planning Manager Rachel “In addition to creating housing, the Fountain Theatre, Ford lacma.org/event/art-conversation- Dimond said. “The completion and we know that we also need to main- The Wallis: Sheléa Amphitheatre, Hollywood Bowl and The Wallis is holding “Sheléa: A bill-violas-slowly-turning-narrative. the certification of an appropriate tain our existing housing,” said Skylight Theatre. The 90-miniute trib- Tribute to Alan & Marilyn Bergman” and legally adequate housing ele- Alicen Bartle, the city’s project ute will include a slideshow of on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 8 p.m. From ment will allow us to open the door development administrator. Krieger’s photographs as well as live the White House, Kennedy Center and pre-recorded testimonials by Holocaust for money to use for construction of Bartle also educated attendees and Carnegie Hall to the Grammy members of the L.A.