Just off Sunset Boulevard sits a bleached white structure topped by onion domes as if it had been lifted off the coast of North Africa. This is not the lodge of some arcane fraternal order, but a 12-unit bungalow court built in 1927. It is joined by an eclectic collection of structures along this short stretch of Parkman Avenue: tiled roof duplexes, stucco-covered arts and crafts houses, and castle-like apartment buildings. While the Silver Lake neighborhood is often parodied as an elite enclave of natural-wine-quaffing transplants, rent-stabilized apartments along Parkman allow for a mix of residents that rivals the diversity of building types.
Los Angeles is often seen as an endless tableau of individual houses, each with their own yard and garden. Apartment buildings are anathema to the city’s ethos. But as the housing crisis becomes increasingly untenable, density is in demand. The state is mandating that the city rezone for more than 450,000 units by the end of the decade, requiring major new construction efforts. Neighborhood groups are resisting these changes, arguing that development means high-rise slabs overlooking backyard kiddie pools.
Yet from Parkman Avenue to the fourplexes of the Fairfax district and garden apartments in Crenshaw, multifamily housing has a legacy as deep and rich in Los Angeles as single-family homes. Increasing density does not have to ruin the city’s character; it can be a way to reclaim a cherished part of its built fabric while adding affordable housing.
Older multifamily housing in Los Angeles tends to have an open, light-filled quality. These apartments often are entered through outdoor patios and courtyards and rise to no more than two stories, giving them a scale and design that could be mistaken for a single-family home. These features made early 20th century Los Angeles apartment buildings widely celebrated, while reformers in New York and elsewhere railed against dense “tenements.” In 1915, the L.A. City Council…