Design Review Board Votes to Support ‘Master Sign Program’ for Sunset Boulevard Building

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

The Pacific Palisades Commercial Village and Neighborhoods Design Review Board met on Wednesday evening, April 24, for a public hearing on a Master Sign Program for 15130 to 15150 West Sunset Boulevard, which the board voted to support, with conditions.

The Master Sign Program—for 15130, 15140 and 15150 W Sunset Boulevard, which currently houses Anawalt’s Palisades Hardware and Sotheby’s International Realty, as well as a vacant space previously occupied by Pharmaca—was continued by DRB during a prior meeting on February 28.

DRB requested “uniformity in the signs,” as well as Anawalt’s proposed sign to not be a roof band, but instead broken up into individual signs, Planning Assistant Brenden Lau confirmed at the time.

“More information was requested about the sign’s size,” Lau continued. “The DRB would also like to see a three-color palette for the proposed signs in the next meeting for review.”

As proposed, the project breaks down to approximately 240 square feet of sign space for Tenant A (15150 W Sunset Blvd.), 91 square feet for Tenant B (15140 W Sunset Blvd.) and 152 square feet for Tenant C (15130 W Sunset Blvd.). No new sign area is being requested, according to a presentation given by Mark Davis of Trifiletti Consulting, who was representing the project on behalf of the applicant/owner, Leland S. Ford, Leland M. Ford & Associates L.P.

The existing building was previously occupied by two commercial tenants until April 2023, when the building was partitioned into three commercial tenant spaces through a Change of Use Permit, read the presentation.

“Under its current condition, Anawalt hardware store’s available signage is dependent on Sotheby’s street frontage … ,” the presentation continued. “As a result, Anawalt does not have sufficient sign area to support its business. Due to this limitation, the applicant is seeking Master Sign Program … ”

The project’s goals and objectives, as per the presentation given on February 28, include to “provide creative and tasteful signage that enhances the property and is compliant with the Pacific Palisades Commercial Village Design Guidelines.” It also would “equally distribute signage between three tenants to functionally and effectively serve their identification needs.”

The proposed Master Sign Program would also “establish uniform standards that ensures existing and future tenant signage is harmonious, integrates with the architecture of the building and provides coordinated proportional exposure for all tenants.” In the future, tenants would be provided with an “efficient permitting process.”

In an updated project presentation April 24, the applicant responded to comments made by the DRB on February 28, including having “no long running signage along the roofline parapet,” to “provide uniformity in sign height between all three businesses,” and to “provide examples of Anawalt’s … and Sotheby’s potential signage.” The comments were addressed by providing examples of the signage, confirming all “proposed potential signage is uniform in height,” and the “previous signage along the roofline has been removed and relocated between column spaces.”

During the public comment period, Anawalt’s General Manager Rosie Maravilla spoke on the lack of signage the store currently has.

“We often have customers comment how they either didn’t know we were located here or have had trouble finding our store due to lack of adequate store signage,” Maravilla said. “This has been detrimental to our business and our ability for customers to easily find our location … I urge you to support this request tonight so we can finally go through the Building and Safety process, and install our business sign.”

James Arico, who serves as counsel for the building owner, said this has been “a very difficult process for a legacy owner in the Palisades for over 60 years:” “We’ve been at this now for the better part of three years.”

Arico continued, confirming that a Master Sign Program was only necessary because of the subdivision of the space from one tenant (Norris Hardware) to two tenants (currently Anawalt and Sotheby’s).

“The signs could change over time,” Arico said, “and what you like now may be different than what you like later. What we’re trying to do is set some standards here that are consistent with what we’re supposed to be doing … ”

After the board deliberated for more than an hour, a motion was presented to vote to support the Master Sign Program, with several conditions, including that Anawalt’s C1 sign has a maximum height of two foot, 18 inches; Anawalt’s C2 signs placement has to be aligned with each other and limited to two secondary signs; and maximum height for all other signs (besides C1) are limited to 18 inches.