Five days after demolition began at 6053 California, the building’s distinctive facade (along Graham as well as California) finally came down today (the top “before” photo is from last year). We once wrote we’d be sad to see it go, but as we acknowledged last week, neighbors tell WSB they’re glad, because the teardown will take away what had become a hotbed of trouble.
so sad. that was such a great building. too bad they didn’t get the address wrong and demo Chuck & Sally’s instead…
Funny…squatters are still hanging out on an old couch in the middle of the demolition debris.
Walking by tonight, thinking to myself, that corner would have been great for a city park. Unlike the teeny parking lot project down the street next to beverige place.
You probably know the kind of twisting/turning history of the park site … it was originally the substation over by Thriftway, then that became unavailable, then the current site became available when the monorail was killed … just a side note. We’re both in meetings right now or we’d go over and check on the squatters … it’ll be dark when our meetings are over.
Aaaww geeze, I was just up there 5 minutes ago and there was one guy going into the sanikan. Pretty much a pile o’ concrete. My gf’s best friend’s grandad was the butcher there. History goes bye-bye every day here. Oh well
Regarding the trouble at this property: I’m a neighbor. There were apartments in the rear. The last tenants were selling drugs out of the place for years. Lots of day and late night loud vehicle traffic, suspicious people coming and going constantly looking over their shoulders. It was not the environment you wanted your daughters passing every day. Last year, we finally got the attention of some narcotics officers who staked the place out and made some arrests (so we were told). The dealers finally moved out when their lease was up! I guess that was the best the law could provide.
The back lot continued to be a site for drug use and sales and occasional public sex (prostitution?). The vacated property was home to a couple of homeless people who kept a low profile, but that didn’t stop the occasional bad actors from partying there, destroying property and making a racket. Finally, thieves were using it to stash stolen property (why else would a lawn mower, tools, tool chests, appliances, etc. suddenly show up in back untended?). Metal thieves were active at the property and arrests were made. A couple weeks back a mattress was set on fire in the parking lot. Last weekend, the partially demolished structure was used for a late night party by five drunks. I called 911, but the police just questioned and released the guys. I see them wandering around the neighborhood every couple of days. As noted above, the last couch left next to the pile of rubble was the site of tonights drinking party. At least they were quiet, but I don’t think anyone here would want them as neighbors. Is that enough trouble for you?
I’d like to comment on this blog posting…I’m the head instructor of the martial arts school that was at the 6053/6059 California Location….
As far as “appliances” were concerned…there indeed WAS a refrigerator on the back stoop of our building, but it was ours. We just did not dispose of it. However….before we even moved out, I noticed that there was a lot of stuff landing on our back stoop….We didn’t know where it came from, and I personally was irate that I would have to dispose of someone else’s stuff (“stolen stuff” or whatever).
While we were still tenants there, there were indeed times were we would carpool to the junction for dinner after classes, and return to drop people off at their cars in our back parking lot…..at no time did we feel we had to “look over our shoulders” (after all, we train our people in “street self defense”), however we did notice that there were people knocking on the rear apartment tenant’s windows at odd hours. I just don’t want my clients to be confused with these “drug dealers/buyers” that we all are speaking of.
When we were the tenants in the martial arts portion of the building, we kept up the front sidewalk the best we could….of course there was little we could do about rear apartement tenant’s upkeep of their part of the building,….but I just wanted to say my piece to let everyone know that while we were tenants there, we did not see any type of “prostitution” or “drug dealing”. I’d like to think that our presence in the building kept that in check during our tenancy.
Having friends that live in the area, I did hear that much of the “activity” happened not long after we moved out. It is unfortunate that a abandoned building would turn out to be a haven for the undesireables, but in turn, I just wanted everyone to know that my martial arts students kept a keen eye out suspicious stuff. I’m just regretful that there was no way for our students to keep the keen eye out, after we moved.
Personally, I’m sad to see a piece of history torn down. But such is the price of “development”.
-RD
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