Hollywood Sign Tourist Woes Continue to Hurt Beachwood Cafe

Looks like trouble for businesses residing up in Beachwood Canyon, including the popular Beachwood Cafe. According to a new video being circulated around various media sites — including Curbed LA — cafe owner Patti Peck says parking restrictions intent on solving nearby residents’ issues with tourists trying to find the Hollywood Sign are only making things worse for commercial properties in the same neighborhood.

As Curbed notes, the three-headed issue is triangulated between tourists, local homeowners, and businesses in the community tucked up near the top of Beachwood Canyon. Add into that a city council that at times has struggled to find workable solutions for all, and it seems tempers are starting to boil over.

The city council has struggled to find workable solutions

As of now, enforced permit parking restrictions in residential areas run on weekends and holidays, which means parking for Beachwood Cafe customers and others is extremely limited, thus impacting business. Peck says in a below video with The Millennial Project that the tourists congesting the area during the week also aren’t helping matters by taking up commercial parking spaces and using facilities without making any purchases whatsoever. Add in a possible move to bring in metered spaces so cars are forced to circulate, and suddenly Peck says she and other owners in the area would be facing crackdowns that could "effectively strangle our business".

Councilmember David Ryu, who oversees the area, says that all possible solutions are complicated, and that things may be less than ideal for everyone until the city of Los Angeles begins to develop ways for tourists to effectively reach the Hollywood sign without impacting local homeowners and businesses in the process.

Councilmember Ryu’s camp also notes that those previous limited permit parking situations were agreed to by commercial business owners in the neighborhood, and the city is still in the midst of an overall report on traffic and density that could help shed light on the needs of everyone in the area.

In the meantime, anyone looking to stop into Beachwood Cafe for a meal (at least anyone who can’t walk there already) might have to just keep circling until a spot opens up, especially on weekends.

• Hollywood Sign Tourists Have Become a Problem for Beachwood Canyon Business Owners [Curbed LA]