Reseda Pursues Lost Popularity : Merchants Want Revitilization to Woo Customers Back From Malls

Along Sherman Way in Reseda, cars whir day and night past a sign that reads: “Reseda . . . Hub of the West Valley.”

In the 1950s, Reseda was the west San Fernando Valley’s shopping hub. But now, merchants say, the passing cars don’t stop, so the people inside them don’t shop--at least not in Reseda. Like the community it describes, the old, cracked, weather-worn sign needs a face lift.

A citizens panel last week proposed a plan to inject some life into the retail area at Sherman Way and Reseda Boulevard, which has been bled dry by enclosed shopping malls. The plan is an attempt to attract new office development and spruce up the aging commercial strips to once again attract strolling shoppers.

One tool to achieve that aim is to ban certain businesses, such as automotive repair shops, which the plan calls unnecessary and undesirable in a shopping area.

2-Year Study

The panel, known as the Citizens Advisory Committee and appointed by Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus, studied Reseda’s problems for two years. Last year, at Picus’ behest, the council imposed temporary development restrictions expected to remain in effect until the council acts on the committee’s plan.

Despite their enthusiasm for the plan, committee members admit that mending Reseda’s economic wounds probably will be a long, uphill effort.

“It’s a big order,” said the Rev. Lyle Gordon, a Baptist minister who chaired the 14-member committee. “It can’t be done overnight, but we hope that what we’ve done will be a long-range solution to stop any further deterioration of downtown Reseda.”

Although some commercial landlords in Reseda have criticized the plan, saying it would limit their options in developing their land, proponents say the business climate can only worsen if Reseda isn’t cleaned up.

So few shoppers walk the streets of Reseda that delicatessen owner Eric Rubanowitz resorts to gimmicks to get motorists out of their cars to buy his rib specials. Every evening, Rubanowitz has an employee stand in front of his Reseda Boulevard restaurant waving a wooden sign cut in the shape of a pig.

“Nobody goes to Reseda,” he lamented.

Auto Repair Shops

That’s an exaggeration, of course, but shopping malls have steadily sapped Reseda of its customers. Boutiques and dress shops have been replaced by thrift stores and auto repair shops. Even neighborhood residents stopped shopping in an area that once drew people from miles around.

The committee’s recommendations cover an area roughly along Sherman Way between Hesperia and Wilbur avenues and Reseda Boulevard between Saticoy and Kittridge streets.

No new automotive businesses would be allowed if the plan is approved by the City Council next year. About 40 other types of new businesses, including thrift stores, pornographic businesses and pawnshops, would also be banned. No existing businesses would be forced to leave.

Zoning laws would be changed to allow construction of a mall-like cluster of retail shops on one block of Sherman Way and a six-story office building on another. All development would have to conform to the plan’s standards for landscaping, parking, lighting, signs and architectural design.

Instead of competing with the big malls, the plan envisions a future Reseda shopping area comparable to the trendy strip of specialty stores along Ventura Boulevard west of Van Nuys Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, city planner Deuk Perrin said. Office development would bring an infusion of workers who could be potential shoppers, he said.

Pleasant Place to Shop

“It’s not like driving into Glendale,” which has a reputation as a pleasant place to shop on foot, said Steve Aufhauser, a committee member and owner of an art supply store on Reseda Boulevard. He said that Reseda has become the subject of “bad jokes and B-rated movies.”

“There’s an overabundance of auto mechanics, transmission, tire, body shops and that type of low-income, low-rent type of buildings,” said Bernard Zwick, president of a Reseda baby-supply store chain.

Of Zwick’s 22 stores in California, Arizona and Hawaii, only his Reseda store draws fewer customers from the surrounding neighborhood than from communities farther away, he said.

Malls Are Big Draw

Therein lies the heart of Reseda’s problem, merchants agree. Shopping malls draw customers from all over the Valley, but Reseda has trouble even getting its own residents to shop on Sherman Way or Reseda Boulevard, said Ann Kinzle, director of the area’s Chamber of Commerce and a citizens committee member.

Much of the business that Reseda does get is “destination retail,” in which shoppers come to the area for a specific item, such as one of Zwick’s baby cribs, said Lee Ambers, a land-use consultant who does work in the Reseda area.

Unlike members of redevelopment agencies, backers of the plan have no legal powers to force property owners to upgrade their properties. Backers must rely on demand for retail shopping and office space to encourage shop owners to refurbish their businesses and to entice developers into the area, Perrin said.

The plan’s proponents and critics agree that its success depends on whether investors will take a risk on residents’ support for new retail businesses. They disagree about the answer to that question.

“All those nice things” in the committee’s plan “are only going to take place if the market warrants it,” said Bernard Richter, a commercial landlord who has criticized the committee’s revitalization plan.

Richter, whose land on Sherman Way is occupied by seven automotive businesses, organized a group of about 20 landowners last year to oppose temporary development restrictions expected to remain in effect until the City Council decides on the Reseda plan.

He said his opposition is not based on fears that the plan would cost him money. In fact, he believes that his land would become more valuable because the plan would restrict space for automotive businesses.

Richter said he opposed the plan because it would hurt Reseda. He predicted that its ban on certain kinds of businesses will deter investment and reduce the value of some properties.

“Unprofitable and unsalable commercial properties will accelerate Reseda’s decline,” he said.

Economic Growth

Picus, however, said Reseda is positioned to benefit from continued economic growth elsewhere in the Valley.

“If people find Ventura Boulevard too expensive and Warner Center too expensive, they’ll say, ‘Hey, look at Reseda. It’s viable and it’s centrally located,’ ” she said.

Reseda, with a population of about 61,000, had an estimated median household income of $32,991 in 1988, according to the U. S. Census. By comparison, the estimated 1988 median income was $28,688 for all of Los Angeles County and $42,582 in the hillside community of Tarzana, immediately south of Reseda.

Kinzle spends an hour each day driving through Reseda to look for graffiti or storefronts that need cleaning up. Recently she complained to city building inspectors about an auto repair shop that was storing engine parts in an open area visible from the street.

Fixing Reseda might require little more than improving the area’s looks, Kinzle said. Landscaping and other proposed improvements, including two crosswalks and six traffic lights to ease walking through the area, can make a difference, she said.

Zwick agreed. “The area is not clean,” he said. “People are not drawn to it to shop, and I think the cleanliness and landscaping and things like that are real important.”