Business & Tech

VIDEO: Pedestrian-Friendly Alley is a First for Hollywood

Community leaders celebrate the grand opening of East Cahuenga Alley Thursday.

One of Hollywood's notorious alleys known for crime and grime has seen a dramatic transformation in the past year.

What was once filled with potholes, graffiti and trash is now an urban oasis for pedestrians, cyclists and restaurant patrons in an alley just east of Cahuenga Boulevard. The alley connects Hollywood Boulevard to Selma Avenue and runs behind restaurants such as , and .

Community leaders are calling EaCa Alley, as it has come to be named, a model of transformation for Los Angeles alleys that demonstrates the benefits that can come from businesses and the city working together. 

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John Arakaki, part owner of St. Felix, says he's looking forward to being part of a shared space where the neighborhood can gather.

"There’s a reason to come here," Arakaki said. "Enjoy outdoor dining in a trendy setting, but still be accessible; enjoy the neighborhood and bring that neighborhood-feel back to the community."

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The cost of the project, about $790,000, was paid for with Community Redevelopment Agency funds. (It was approved before the CRA was disbanded.) , crews then regraded and realigned the alley's storm drain system, resurfaced the pavement and made security improvements.

The alley's past life

Jonathan Hodges, owner of Hollywood Sound Recorders, located in a building at the alley's south entrance, said he was excited to be a part of the change.

"Fifteen years ago this was called Heroin Alley," Hodges said. "I would come back here and clean up nothing but a bunch of used needles and [see] people defecating. It was just trash, transient.... Probably the worst imaginable alley you can think of, this was it. It has been a long process changing over. Now it’s beautiful. It’s exciting. There’s no comparison."

Looking ahead

Sarah MacPherson, associate executive director of the Hollywood Property Owners Alliance, helped lead the project that was five years in the making. With 26 of Hollywood's alleys within the HPOA, MacPherson said she would eventually like to see similar projects take root, but for now there's still a lot to observe with EaCa Alley.

"Any capital improvement project that you have, the key is 10 percent is building it, 90 percent is maintaining it over the long term," MacPherson said.

"We’ve established the business improvement district that has the alley assessment, that will help ensure the alley is taken care of. We also have an alley association that has been formed by the various property owners adjacent to the alley so that they can monitor activities and manage the alley over the long term."

A vision for business and property owners 

David Gajda, president of the East Cahuenga Corridor Alley Association, said his group has a vibrant vision of the alley's future.

"The plan is, over the next couple months, to open up all the outdoor eateries all the way to this side of Hollywood [Boulevard]," Gajda said. "We're in discussions with groups to do pop-up storefronts ... in the alley and in the actual spaces. In combination with the farmers market on Sunday, we will have clothing and pop-up boutiques in the restaurants here. The EaCa Alley will be synonymous with Hollywood just as is the Walk of Fame with Hollywood."

View the video above to see the alley's transformation in the past year and hear Councilman Eric Garcetti talk about its changes. See extra photos on our Facebook page.

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