Boarded Up in Hancock Park

You might not believe it's possible for one of Hancock Park's beautiful stately homes to sit boarded up for years.

Houses fetch a pretty penny in Hancock Park, and for good reasons. So far, I have found very few empty or misused properties in the neighborhood - but that's not to say that there are none.

I was contacted by a neighbor who told me that 508 Highland Avenue had been boarded up and empty for years, in spite of the area's very high real estate values.

It is such a beautiful "classic LA" house, even in its current state. 508 Highland Avenue is a grand Spanish/Moorish-influenced historic home built in 1927, long fenced off from the street. According to ZIMAS, the property has a Mills Act contract, so someone cared enough about this house at one point to pursue tax savings that would be put toward its upkeep.

ZIMAS also says it was used for housing within the past five years, but I'm not sure that's accurate. While real estate records show it last changed hands in 2013, I couldn't say when it was last lived in.

Sometime between October 2014 (almost a decade ago) and January 2016, several windows were boarded up. Street View pictures from March 2014 show that the chain-link fence has gone up - but they also reveal plants in plastic nursery pots, fancy planters, rocks, and what appears to be possible construction debris, suggesting that someone was fixing up the yard. Later pictures alternately show dirt instead of a lawn, then an increasingly patchy green lawn, and finally, a dead lawn.

One of the two permits on file with LADBS is an expired 2017 permit for general rehabilitation of the house (the other is for re-roofing in 2010). There is also an Order to Comply on file for work performed without the proper permits.

I sincerely hope that this is just a very, very long restoration project and not just letting that gorgeous house sit empty. 508 Highland Avenue was meant to be lived in and loved.

508 Highland Avenue, Hancock Park.

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