Now Playing on the MMRA YouTube Channel:

Melrose Residents Protest McMansions

Click on image to view video.
 

SCROLL DOWN FOR:
Miracle Mile Spotlight: Candela Taco Bar & Lounge

---

 

Miracle Mile Spotlight:

Candela Taco Bar & Lounge
(AKA Leonardo’s Nightclub)

 

Thirty-seven years ago two brothers from Northern Mexico, Armando and Leonardo Lopez, opened their first nightclub in a former dance studio at 831 South La Brea Avenue. They named their establishment Leonardo’s and built a large clientele of working-class Mexican and Latin Americans seeking the live music, dancing, and food of their homeland.
 
The Lopez brothers answered a demand that led them to expand to 12 Leonardo’s nightclubs from Downtown L.A. to Oxnard to Lancaster. Several years ago the brothers went their seperate ways and Armando took ownership of the flagship La Brea Avenue club while Leonardo took possession of property across the street to develop a retail center. And this is where Armando’s daughter, Maria Lopez, enters the picture.
 
A graduate of Cal State Northridge with a major in International Business, Maria had a plan to realize the full potential of the popular nightspot. She wanted to preserve its existing customer base while expanding its appeal to the residents of the Miracle Mile. But first she had a major obstacle to overcome. “We’ve always been a family business,” she explained. “All of my brothers and cousins grew up working here, but the girls not so much. It was a very Mexican business; the men ran it. I was the first to challenge that.”
 
Her father’s traditional ways were no match for Maria’s intelligence, charm, and energy. Seven years ago she became actively involved in the business. When asked if her father is easy to work with, Maria replied: “It’s a hard balance between the old school and the new school. But I think he trusts me now. I’ve proven myself.”
 
Maria’s first innovation was the creation of Candela Taco Bar & Lounge, “The intention behind Candela was to build a bridge between our Miracle Mile neighborhood and our traditional Mexican-American nightclub business.” The restaurant’s success launched an expansion into catering and hosting a wide array of functions for local businesses and organizations.
 
What used to be a predominantly Mexican-American nightclub that was only open on weekend evenings is now a dynamic, seven-days-a-week enterprise that has attracted a broad range of customers. This reinvention of the business inspired the name change from Leonardo’s to Candela – although the weekend nightclub is still commonly referred to as Leonardo’s or the La Brea nightclub.
 
Candela Taco Bar & Lounge has earned high marks for the quality of the food, full liquor service, and its home-like feel. The popularity of $1 taco Wednesdays compelled Maria to open the restaurant at 11:30 AM on Wednesdays; the rest of the week the restaurant operates from 4 PM to midnight.
 
“I was raised to appreciate that customer loyalty is the most important thing in this business,” she emphasized. “It’s such a fine line between growing a business and honoring our long-time patrons.” This continuing customer loyalty is very evident given the popularity of “Tango Tuesdays” and the many hundreds of nightclub patrons dancing every weekend to the live music of popular Mexican and Latin American performers.
 
Maria grew up in Encino – a regular commute that her father still makes – but the daily demands of managing the restaurant inspired Maria to move to the Miracle Mile a year ago. “It’s changed my life in so many aspects,” she states. “I relate to my customers better because I’m a local now. I frequent other restaurants. It’s very much a neighborhood vibe around here.”
 
In turns out that Maria was a trailblazer for another woman in her family: her mother, Consuelo Lopez. “We were very fortunate to have a stay-at-home mom when we were growing up. About four years ago, she was suffering from empty nest syndrome and she came to me and said, ‘Please, let me have a job with you.’ The kitchen is her thing. She’s been an incredible help. We develop new dishes together and she helps a lot with our catering business.”
 
So, now Armando Lopez finds himself working side-by-side with both his daughter and his wife. But it is a wise man who can change with the times – and a lucky man to have a daughter like Maria, who knows what needs to be changed.

 

Maria Lopez (center) with her parents, Armando and Consuelo Lopez.

 

Candela Taco Bar & Lounge
831 S. La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Telephone: 323-936-0533
Website: CandelaTacoBar.com

 
As the Great Recession receded the Miracle Mile has become a hotbed of construction in the past year. A few long-delayed projects and many new developments commenced in 2014. A large apartment building is under construction behind the landmark Desmond’s building and another smaller apartment project will soon start construction behind the Dominguez-Wilshire building; a new school building and mixed-use complex is being built on the Shalhevet campus at Fairfax and San Vicente; the Petersen Automotive Museum is doing a major interior renovation and controversial exterior facelift; a new 13-story Museum Square office building will soon break ground; a small condo project is going up at Curson and Olympic; and South Ogden Drive between Wilshire and Olympic has three different residential projects at varying stages of construction, including a 45-unit apartment building.
 
Expansion of the Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) into the Miracle Mile resulted in the repaving of Wilshire Boulevard – something that many residents never thought they would see in their lifetimes. The BRT will restrict curb lanes for buses only during morning and evening rush hours once construction is completed to the Westside. It is projected that the BRT will increase peak hour traffic on 6th and 8th Streets by twenty percent.
 
Utility relocations in preparation for the Purple Line subway tunneling have been underway since the beginning of the year (and will continue at Wilshire and Fairfax for another two years). Principal subway construction is to begin early in the New Year with the demolition of the structures at the northwest corner of Wilshire and La Brea to clear ground for a construction site, the first of four such sites in the Miracle Mile.
 
The proposed Academy Museum at the former May Co. building is slowly winding its way through the approval process and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is pushing for a new museum that would bridge Wilshire Boulevard. The plans of both organizations threaten to overwhelm the Miracle Mile community if they fail to acknowledge and act on the reasonable concerns of the residents. LACMA already attracts 1.2 million visitors per year and the Academy Museum could double that number. The lack of parking, traffic congestion at Fairfax and Wilshire, frequent and large special events, and the creation of a Digital Sign District are the major issues the MMRA has with the proposed plan for the Academy Museum.
 
All of this has made for a very busy year for the Miracle Mile Residential Association. The Miracle Mile is obviously experiencing a tidal wave of change and the MMRA is tasked with ensuring that the voices of the residents are included in plans for the future of our community.
 
Last February the “Sleepless in the Miracle Mile” petition campaign was launched to stop the proposed 24/7 construction activities at the subway staging sites. The disturbances caused by the ongoing nighttime utility relocations have demonstrated that heavy construction and a good night’s rest are inherently incompatible [see video link in article above]. The MMRA will continue to closely monitor subway construction in order to protect residents and small businesses.
 
The spread of mansionization into the Miracle Mile created a groundswell of opposition to McMansions. The MMRA applied for Reduced Floor Area District status to thwart speculators – and successfully lobbied to be included in a pending Interim Control Ordinance that would ban demolition of single-family residences in the Miracle Mile for two years while the City reforms its flawed Baseline Mansionization Ordinance. The MMRA also created a Historical Protection Overlay Zone Committee to explore community interest in creating a Miracle Mile HPOZ to preserve the history and design character of our neighborhood [see article above].
 
The MMRA is spearheading an effort to protect Miracle Mile landmarks by sponsoring several iconic Wilshire Boulevard buildings for official Historical-Cultural Monument status.
 
The increased rush hour congestion on 8th  Street and traffic intrusions on residential streets led the MMRA to instigate a Miracle Mile Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan. Working closely with Councilmember Tom LaBonge, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, and Gibson Transportation Consulting, Inc., the study was launched this October with the final report due next spring. The study, which emphasizes safety, will recommend measures that – hopefully – will reduce the spate of collisions resulting from north/south traffic attempting to enter or cross 8th Street and, just as important, make the street safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
 
In many ways 2014 is merely a preview of coming attractions for the Miracle Mile. Change is inevitable and not always unwelcome. Development is far from a level playing field and the needs and wishes of community are often an afterthought for the powers that be. But the residents of the Miracle Mile, both renters and homeowners, have displayed the unity and resolve to preserve and protect our neighborhood. With your support the Miracle Mile Residential Association has established itself as a strong (and often loud) voice of the community.

[For additional information on the developments and events mentioned above see the MMRA Newsletter Archive.]