Code woes of Hollywood's Cadillac Corner
It may be the end of the road for the landmark that has run afoul of the city.
By Bob Pool
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 4, 2008
It may be fin for Hollywood's house of fins.
After 21 years of waxing chrome bumpers and wreathed crests and washing white sidewalls and wrap-around windshields at 7614 Sunset Blvd., Frank Corrente might have to haul his fleet of vintage V-8s out of town.
Los Angeles building inspectors say Corrente opened his Cadillac Corner car lot in 1987 without the proper permits. They have ordered him to file the paperwork and bring the lot up to current standards or else padlock its gate permanently.
That means replacing his sales office, reducing his 45-car inventory, and removing the fluttering flags and circus-style tent that sometimes shades shark-finned classics such as the '59 El Dorado convertible and the boat-sized '60 Coupe de Ville hardtop.
Corrente says that after more than two decades of taking his car lot taxes and business license fees, authorities ought to cut him some slack.
He said he cannot afford to lose the vintage car display space that the ordered modifications would require and he cannot afford to pay for a new office structure.
"Running people out of business doesn't help L.A.," he said.
Building and Safety officials have summoned Corrente to a Thursday hearing to determine if a criminal complaint will be filed against him.
The department's Code Enforcement Bureau violation notice cited issues with the car lot itself, its sales office and the 60-foot-long tent. It threatened him with a $200 fine for each vintage Cadillac sold from the unapproved lot.
