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Larchmont Chronicle Neighborhood newspaper representing Hancock Park, Larchmont Village
Miracle Mile, Park La Brea Fremont Place in the Wilshire center area of Los Angeles. Local News and
stories about the local Los Angeles Scene. Historical informattion regarding the Larchmont Chronicle and
Hancock Park area. Founded in 1963 on Larchmont Bouelvard, Los Angeles, CA, California

July 30, 2010

LUNCH TRUCKS CATER TO MIRACLE MILE

Suzan Filipek

TAKING A LUNCH break, Rebecca Baroukh is a regular at the curbside counters.

The aroma of barbecued meats brings out the lunchtime office crowd to the Spring Street Smoke House, one of many food trucks parked on Wilshire Blvd. in the Miracle Mile. A daily $50 fine in the limited parking zone is just part of doing business, says Smoke House operator Rick Klu.

And business is good. “We’re a popular spot. You can smell [our food] from a mile away,” says Klu.

Rebecca Baroukh picked up the barbecued brisket sandwich last month for a friend and got the Old School (spicy) hot wings for herself at another truck parked next door. Her favorite is the pastrami from the Canter’s Deli truck. “But they’re not here today,” says the intern at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art across the street.

Multi-story office buildings fill this stretch of the Mile, which has become a go-to lunch spot offering an abundance of gourmet fare, from Korean barbecue to Japanese and Brazilian.

While the trucks have built a loyal fan base from area lunchtime crowds to those who follow their travels on Twitter, restaurants protest the trucks take away customers. Merchants claim they hog precious parking spaces, leave litter behind and don’t pay taxes or rent.

“We have worked long and hard to get restaurants into the Miracle Mile…,” which now are threatened by several trucks illegally parked on Wilshire, says Jim O’Sullivan, second vice president of the Miracle Mile Civic Coalition. “I love commerce but these aren’t mom and pop shops, and ultimately [they] will hurt us,” O’Sullivan adds.

In addition once the trucks roll away, where will locals eat dinner, or breakfast, if the local restaurants go out of business, asks O’Sullivan, who is also president of the Miracle Mile Residential Assoc.

Many of the trucks arrive before noon, park between Hauser and Curson in a one-hour zone, are ticketed and continue to stay parked for hours. Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge says the “metered parking was installed as a solution to the limited public parking in a business district. “We need to find a place for these trucks to park so they don’t interfere with the flow of personal vehicles through a shopping district.”

He has introduced two motions to be considered by the city Transportation Committee this month. One proposal asks city staff to study what other cities have done and to look into prohibiting trucks from parking at metered spaces in commercially zoned areas.

The other calls for a report from the city Dept. of Transportation on the creation of specially designated catering-truck parking zones.

Larchmont Chronicle
542½ North Larchmont Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90004

Editor & Publisher: Jane Gilman
Associate Publisher: Irwin Gilman

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Information about the Larchmont Village, Hancock Park, Miracle Mile, Park LaBrea areas of Los Angeles, california. The larchmont Chronicle provides information, news stories, local events, advertising, real estate information, real estate listing advertisings, Los Angeles area demographics and other neighborhood news.