A number of buildings were on the agenda for the Cultural Heritage Commission to take under consideration. They are included in a proposal to develop the area adjacent to and surrounding the Crossroads of the World, which is already on the Cultural Heritage inventory. 

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The buildings ranged from wood frame and stucco structures before Hollywood was part of Los Angeles, and ran through commercial structures of the 1920's to high style apartment buildings of the late 1930s.  The Art Deco Society and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation submitted these nominations, with Hollywood Heritage, The Los Angeles Conservancy, and the 13th District Council office there to speak in support of these nominations. 

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All of the following WERE APPROVED except for the Major Kunkel bungalow which was simply too altered and modernized in its interior and detailing for the commission to be able to consider.

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Here are the approved nominations - 

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LAS PALMAS REGENCY COURTYARD APARTMENTS.

1535-1555 North Las Palmas Avenue; 6700-6718 West Selma Avenue

Owner: Cross Roads Properties I, LLC c/o Morton La Kretz

Applicant: Art Deco Society of Los Angeles

Preparer: Charles J. Fisher

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Built in 1938-1939, these three courtyard apartments draw their style from art direction in the films of the period. Georgian and Regency details are modified and reprduced in exaggerated and simplified proportions and details to reference previous periods while adding in some Art Deco conventions such as geometric details and repeated linear accents to bring these previous architectural forms into the 20th Century. The three buildings share massing and proportion, while differing in specific detailing on both the interiors and exteriors.

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Proponents spoke to the context in which these buildings existed at the time, adjacent to the radio, recording and motion picture studios, and to their design as family apartments. Although they do not have a specific architect, possibly due to the fact that the company that built these and other structures in Los Angeles and Hollywood had a staff of architects working for them, they are clearly the work of an architect with their attention to detail and design. 

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Creative brick work, decorative pediment door frames with multiple panels, terra cotta tiles inset in an "outdoor carpet" style are among the details that illuminate these structures. 
 

The courtyard apartment style was very popular in Hollywood and Los Angeles as we have the benefit of such good weather as to encourage indoor-outdoor living. 

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These buildings are on the West side of Las Palmas, across from Crossroads of the World and like Crossroads, speak to a lower rise Hollywood with a greater sense of neighborhoods and communities. Much of this type of housing disappeared as the automobile came to dominate the area and the Hollywood Freeway served to change Hollywood's character from that of a destination to being en route between newly developing suburban areas and centers of business and manufacturing as they moved in concentric circles outside of the metropolitan Los Angeles and Hollywood areas.