Former Thelma Todd Cafe to Open June 2017

By LILA SEIDMAN | Reporter

Rumors of demolition have dogged 17575 Pacific Coast Highway, the building that once house ill-fated silent starlet Thelma Todd’s Sidewalk Café, since it was purchased by Hayman Properties in January 2015.

The actress’ still-mysterious death in 1935 at the age of 29 made the property famous—and continues to invite interest, concern and wild speculation.

A few months ago, a website reported that the building was being demolished to make way for a four-story condominium, a claim Robert Hayman of Hayman Properties called “ridiculous.”

In fact, the renovation/rehabbing of the historical building has gotten an estimated completion date of June 2017.

The building’s property manager Lisa Baragosh told the Palisadian-Post it takes time to get right.

“With a property like this, you have to take a lot of care and time to make sure that you salvage as much as you possibly can,” Hayman explained, adding that he feels responsible for the building’s wellbeing.

The goal is to preserve the original design as much as possible and “bring it back to its former glory,” Hayman said.

Once complete, the interior will be rented out as creative office space—or, possibly, become Hayman Properties’ new headquarters.

“Wouldn’t that be great?” Hayman mused. “We’ll see, you never know.” Though convenient for him, a Malibu resident, he said it might not be ideal for other employees, who live on the other side of Los Angeles.

So far they’ve completed a “soft demolition” and removed everything from the inside that is not historic, “and which, in some cases, we’re required by the American Disabilities Act (ADA) to remove. But even in that case, I don’t think we’ve removed anything that’s historic,” Hayman said.   

But to comply with ADA and other modern standards, “there are changes that we do not want to make at all, but we have to,” Baragosh noted.

They added an elevator to be ADA compliant. As an aesthetic compromise, they will install a Lula Lift, a hybrid between a wheelchair lift and standard elevator design.

Hayman also isn’t completely sure he can salvage the whited-out, street-level windows, which he said are extremely old but not original. He’s looking into restoring them, but if he can’t, plans to “replicate exactly what was there before.”

No work has been done on the interior or exterior as of yet. The next step is finishing architectural plans and permitting.

“Then we’ll just rebuild the property and it will look, I think, in a way that nobody has seen it in 70 or 80 years,” Hayman said.

The plan is to restore the exterior exactly as it was in its heyday using newer, sturdier materials.

The interior will get a slight makeover: “It will be more open than it was before, in accordance with today’s more modern acceptable office standards of people wanting open, airy, light office space, but there’s nothing that has been compromised from a historic standpoint in order to achieve that,” Hayman said.

Although the building is not classified as a Historic-Cultural Monument by the city, Hayman Properties is working with historical architect Robert Chattel, as well as the LA Conservancy and Eric Dugdale, president of the Pacific Palisades Historical Society, to make the most accurate restoration possible.

They’ve acquired photographs from the building’s many phases—it was a beach club, Thelma Todd’s Sidewalk Café and most recently headquarters for Christian production company Paulist Productions—and are using them for reference and guidance.

“We have nothing but the best intentions in mind for this property,” Hayman said. “It’s a piece of history and we love it.”