Once a year, Laurel Canyon residents come down from Lookout Mountain, Wonderland, Kirkwood and the other streets above the boulevard to stand in front of the Canyon Country Store for a group photo. In his Letter from Laurel Canyon on Substack, author Michael Walker describes the photographer on "a teetering ladder across Laurel Canyon Boulevard" waiting for a gap in traffic, and says nobody learns the date "until the last moment." A 2010 LAist story dated the neighborhood portrait to 1989.
That photo has always been a picture of the building. The brick front, the hand-painted "Laurel Canyon" sign, the clock and the Coca-Cola sign are what everyone lines up under. They are also what the City of Los Angeles is now deciding whether to protect. On October 15, 2026, the Cultural Heritage Commission took the store under consideration as a Historic-Cultural Monument. If the city designates it, the rules will cover what's in the photo. They won't cover what this year's arguments were about, which is who runs the market and what it sells.
A building the city already rated "excellent and rare"
The city's staff report on case CHC-2026-4816-HCM tells the building's history in more detail than most residents have heard it. It sits on the northeast corner of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Kirkwood Drive. The Laurel Tavern stood there until a fire destroyed it in 1923, and the current two-story brick building replaced it a year later. In its first years, the storefronts held offices for real estate companies selling lots in the canyon. Later tenants included a grocery, a drug store and a dry cleaner. Starting in 1937, the building was home for more than 30 years to a neighborhood newspaper, The Canyon Crier. The Canyon Country Store has occupied 2108 N. Laurel Canyon since 1956.
Its musical history is better known. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Jim Morrison immortalized it as "the store where creatures meet." Walker's essay also traces Fleetwood Mac's 1974 trip to Sound City studios to Mick Fleetwood bumping into a studio employee in this store. The city's citywide survey, SurveyLA, had already found the building eligible for local, state and national listing as "an excellent and rare example of a 1920s neighborhood market in the Hollywood Hills." The survey also found it eligible for its role in the canyon's folk and rock scene of the 1960s and 1970s.
The building has changed over the years too. The original storefront was replaced in 1937. A parking lot was added on the west side in 1951. The unreinforced masonry walls were seismically retrofitted between 1984 and 1991, and the deli and cafe arrived in 1991. The coffee cart on the patio dates to 2000, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Downstairs, the restaurant Pace sits inside the old foundations, which Walker describes as grotto-like.
How the canyon got to a landmark hearing
The nomination came out of an ownership dispute that played out in the press.
| When | What happened | Reported by |
|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | The store was listed for sale, and a notice was posted for a change in ownership of its alcohol license. A co-owner said he had not known about the notice. | SFGate |
| March 2026 | A second co-owner said he and partners who bought the store in 1982 wanted to sell and retire. The outlet also reported rumors of a liquor-store conversion. | The Hollywood Reporter |
| September 16, 2026 | The Planning Director ruled the landmark application complete. | City Planning |
| September 22, 2026 | Walker wrote about "a recent change in management that has townies on edge." | Letter from Laurel Canyon |
| October 15, 2026 | The Cultural Heritage Commission took the store under consideration. | LA Conservancy |
The applicant is Daniela Velazco of the Los Angeles Conservancy. The city's October record lists the owner as Canyon Country Corp. The property is in Council District 4, in the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council area, and is zoned R1-1-HCR. The store's own website now calls one of the co-owners its "former longtime owner."
What's already frozen
The building got its first protection on September 16, before the Commission voted. Under Section 22.171.12 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code, a temporary stay starts as soon as the Director rules an application complete:
"no permit for the demolition, substantial alteration or removal shall be issued; and the site, building or structure regardless of whether a permit exists, shall not be demolished, substantially altered or removed, pending final determination by the Commission and City Council"
That stay lasts while the case is pending. The code also says when it ends. If the City Council misses its final deadline, demolition or alteration "may proceed." If the Commission finds the building doesn't meet the definition of a Monument, the stay ends right away.
What the protection reaches, and where it stops
The ordinance defines a Monument as a "site, building or structure." According to the city's Office of Historic Resources, designation means the Commission reviews proposed interior and exterior alterations, and the property is treated as a presumed significant historical resource under state environmental review. The office also says designation does not guarantee a building can never be demolished.
Interior review matters more at this address than at most, because the nomination describes the interior in detail. It lists exposed masonry walls, an open floor plan with the checkout on the south side, hand-painted wooden signs hanging over the aisles, and a stairwell and conveyor belt running down to basement storage. Those features are part of the case.
Everything that makes the place a store is outside it. The ordinance protects the building and doesn't name a tenant or a type of business. It says nothing about who stocks the shelves, whether the deli keeps making pastrami sandwiches, or whether the espresso bar Walker describes keeps drawing a morning crowd. The same goes for Pace downstairs, which posts dinner hours seven nights a week on its website: 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 5:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The hearing can decide whether the 1924 brick building, the sign and the hanging aisle signs stay. The questions this year's ownership dispute raised, who runs the market and what it sells, sit with the owners, the operators and the people shopping there.
The calendar from here
The code sets tight deadlines. Here is the sequence under Section 22.171.10:
- Inspection. The Commission inspects and investigates the property. Under Section 22.171.8, it can do this in person or by reviewing photos and video. City Planning's info brief on the Commission says a two-member subcommittee typically conducts an inspection tour.
- Staff recommendation. The Planning Director writes a report and recommendation.
- Merits hearing. The Commission holds a public hearing on whether the building qualifies. It has 75 days from the October 15 meeting to make its recommendation, which puts the deadline around December 29. The owner can agree in writing to extend that by up to 60 days. If the Commission doesn't act in time, the application is treated as denied.
- City Council. If the Commission recommends approval, the City Council has 90 days from that hearing to vote. It can add up to 15 days on its own for good cause, or up to 60 more with the owner's written consent. Approval takes a majority vote, and designation takes effect only when the Council adopts it.
For an application like this one, a Commission vote against designation ends the case and doesn't go to the Council. The owner of record must get written notice at least ten days before each hearing. Anyone who wants to comment can find hearing dates on the Commission's posted agendas under case number CHC-2026-4816-HCM.
This post is general information about a public process, not legal advice. If you own property that could be affected by a nomination, check the details with a land-use attorney or the Office of Historic Resources.
Many pre-war buildings in the canyons have stories like this one, and a historic nomination changes what an owner can do with a property long before anything sells. If you own an older Hollywood Hills property and want to talk through how a designation or a pending application could affect your plans, Mark Gallandt can walk you through it. Let's Connect.
