Once a week, Jeff Kober rents a small auditorium at the Raven Playhouse theater of the NoHo Arts District, where he and a group of actors rehearse scenes from his screenplay.
Although he would like a studio of his own, doing that within the roughly 1-square-mile community in North Hollywood is not something the 60-year-old actor and screenwriter can afford.
The median monthly rental prices for an apartment in North Hollywood rose 4.4 percent year-over-year as of January 2018 to $2,747, according to Zillow.
“A lot of money came in with the new development and the subway station,” Kober said, referring to the nearby Red Line station and surrounding new apartments and businesses. “People realize this is the place where money could be made. This area became very expensive.”
Kober is among many actors and artists in the NoHo Arts District community — bounded by Hatteras Street to the north and Camarillo Street to the south — who say the rising rents are making it too pricey for them to live and work in the arts hub.
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The NoHo Arts District was established in 1992 with support from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and called “NoHo” after New York City’s SoHo Arts District.
Over the years, new arts studios started popping up along Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, turning the semi-industrial suburb into a walkable urban neighborhood.
Meanwhile, high rents in Hollywood spurred an exodus of actors, directors and dancers who began looking for affordable studios and lots. The NoHo theaters welcomed the influx of creative people.
“Artists make a community exciting and unique. That means people want to move there and build more apartments. Then the buildings get expensive.”
— Nancy Bianconi, publisher of NoHoArtsDistrict.com
Since then, the Arts District’s theaters hardly stayed empty as they began renting out space to dance studios and acting workshops.
In 2000, the North Hollywood Red Line station opened, connecting downtown L.A. with the San Fernando Valley. And the Metro Orange Line busway began ferrying passengers between the West Valley and a NoHo stop across the street from the Red Line in 2005. A pedestrian underpass at Lankershim Boulevard made it easier to transfer from one line to the other in 2016.
The neighborhood began changing as hipster coffee joints, spa salons and poke restaurants popped up along with the series of transit-oriented developments.
NoHo 14, a 180-unit and 14-story upscale apartment building with shops on the ground floor, sprung up at Lankershim Boulevard and Cumpston Street.
Another project, Lofts at NoHo Commons, a $250-million mixed-use development with 700 residential units, along with retail and office space, appeared across the street from the Red Line station. A 580-square-foot studio at NoHo Commons costs from $1,900 to $2,000 a month while a one-bedroom apartment goes for $2,370 to $4,340 a month, according to Zillow.
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In 2016, Metro began negotiations with Trammell Crow Co. and Greenland USA, a subsidiary of Chinese giant Greenland Holding Group, to redevelop about 16 acres owned by Metro, surrounding the North Hollywood Red Line station, adding more residential units near transit lines.
But the new developments along with high rent prices forced many artists to seek space outside the neighborhood, locals and experts say.
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As the real estate market continues to grow in the NoHo Arts District, attracting new development, some artists are being pushed out to make way for high-end restaurants, coffee shops and luxury condos. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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Longtime resident, actor Jeff Kober, has witnessed many changes to North Hollywood. As the real estate market continues to grow in the NoHo Arts District, attracting new development, some of the arts are being pushed out to make way for high-end restaurants, coffee shops and luxury condos. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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(Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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Murals and other creative arts can still be seen around the NoHo Arts District. However; as the real estate market continues to grow in the NoHo Arts District. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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As the real estate market continues to grow in the NoHo Arts District, attracting new development, some of the arts are being pushed out to make way for high-end restaurants, hipster coffee shops, and luxury condos. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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As the real estate market continues to grow in the NoHo Arts District, attracting new development, some artists are being pushed out to make way for high-end restaurants, coffee shops and luxury condos. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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Murals and other creative art can still be seen around in the NoHo Arts District. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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As the real estate market continues to grow in the NoHo Arts District, attracting new development, some artists are being pushed out to make way for high-end restaurants, coffee shops and luxury condos. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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Tim Elliott of Elliott Printing Co. in North Hollywood says he could not afford to operate if he had to pay current rents being asked in the area. Elliott’s father started the company and bought the land in the 1950s. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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Tim Elliott of Elliott Printing Co. in North Hollywood says he could not afford to operate if he had to pay current rents being asked in the area. Elliott’s father started the company and bought the land in the 1950s. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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A sense of free spirit still exists in North Hollywood. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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Murals and other creative art can still be seen around in the NoHo Arts District. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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Daniel DeBevoise, who opened NoHo Gallery LA in 2005 near the intersection of Lankershim and Magnolia boulevards, said out of eight galleries that operated about 10 years ago, there is only one left.
“Some owners would select a portion of their buildings for artists, but the problem was those units were phenomenally expensive, and artists couldn’t rent them anymore,” DeBevoise said, adding in 2010 he was forced to close his studio.
A 2,000-square-foot lot at 5122-5124 Lankershim Blvd., in the heart of NoHo, is available for lease for about $5,800, according to the real estate website LoopNet.com.
“That’s very sad,” he said. “They call it the NoHo Arts District, but they don’t have any arts galleries.”
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Art studios are not the only casualties of rising rents.
Nancy Bianconi, publisher of NoHoArtsDistrict.com, who began working on the revitalization of the district around 18 years ago, said the live theaters — there are more than 20 of them in the area — also feel threatened.
“Whenever someone sells their building, and if there is a theater in that building, we’re always terrified because we don’t know who is going to buy it,” Bianconi said. “Because if they buy it to make lots money, they will turn the theater into another bar or a restaurant.”
Bianconi noted that many theater owners and tenants are “fearful” about rising rent prices.
“Theaters can charge only that much, and there is no other way to generate income,” she said. “Theaters are trying to save any penny they can, but it’s difficult and the rent is high expensive. We’re trying to see how we can keep our theaters alive.”
Still, Bianconi added she was not surprised the NoHo Arts District attracts large developers.
“Artists make a community exciting and unique,” she said. “That means people want to move there and build more apartments. Then the buildings get expensive.”
Paul Storiale, the president of the NoHo Neighborhood Council, who manages several theaters in the Arts District, said his job is to make sure that art doesn’t vanish from the neighborhood.
“I’m concerned, but there is nothing we can do about it,” Storiale said. “The owners of the art galleries don’t make enough profit to keep their spots. I don’t think anyone is interested in saving something that doesn’t make any money.”
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To keep the visual arts in the district, Storiale said he encourages developers to install artworks in their lobbies, or lend their walls for murals.
But even those efforts don’t guarantee that local artists’ works will be featured in NoHo buildings.
“We would love to have local arts,” Storiale said. “But how many of them there are left? There is no directory of local artists. I wish we had one.”
Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian said development of new buildings that provide low-cost housing will allow low-income families to stay in North Hollywood.
“Housing affordability is a major concern of mine in North Hollywood and throughout the city,” he said in a statement. “I want people to be able to live in the neighborhoods where they work. Hundreds of additional affordable units will become available in the heart of the NoHo Arts District within the next few years as part of Metro’s mixed-use development that will be built next to the Red and Orange Line stations.”
But some observers are concerned that by the time the affordable units are built, the Arts District will be gone.
“Right now it’s scary what’s happening,” Storiale said. “It would be a joke to be an arts district with no art. We don’t want to be called the NoHo bar district.”
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