VICTORY RIDES AGAIN!
The Sunset Ranch rides again winning their injunction against the City of Los Angeles. On March 13, 2017 litigators for the Ranch and City met before The Honrable Judge Elizabeth Ferrer in Superior Court. Judge Ferrer listened to the facts, reviewed the law and made a decision based on the agreement with both parties to close the gate that dead ends from Beachwood Drive to the easement road leading to the Sunset Ranch and their 2 acre parcel.
This is not just about safety, property rights, small business ownership, but also about the rich equestrian history that has graced Hollywoodland and Los Angeles. In the early 1940’s the Sherman Company (who owned the surrounding 444 acres) gave the Sunset Ranch an ingress/egress easement (*1) for the purpose of accessing their property located inside Sherman’s open space. Then in 1944, Sherman quit claimed the open space to the City of Los Angeles . The Ranch’s easement is noted in the quit claim deed, on tract maps and continues to be a valid document.
Court discussions regarding the easement and injunction included the safety aspects of pedestrians walking the narrow, winding hillside streets without sidewalks as well as the negative effects on the Ranch business and adjacent neighborhood.
The guards will be posted at Beachwood where it dead-ends for 4-6 weeks and electronic signs will be changed to direct people to Canyon Drive (with its two parking lots, sidewalks and adjoining hiking trails).
Justice prevails!
Most Sincerely,
C. Mills O’Brien
HGP Research Historian
Footnote
(*1) A few more points about the Sunset Ranch and their ingress/egress easement.
This is an appurtenant easement, which means that the easement is permanent stays with the land. This is important because it shows the Sherman Company’s intent that this easement lasts forever instead of expiring if the ranch ever changed ownership. It also proves that the Sherman Company valued the bridle trails so much, that they ensured that any new owner of the stables would have the same easement rights as their predecessor. It reinforces the original Hollywoodland advertisement, which stresses the importance of the bridle paths and the stables. For the last 90+ years, horses have been a big part of this neighborhood and are an important part of our history.
Although the judge declared that the easement was not exclusive, having a non-exclusive easement does not mean that either party is free to use the easement in any way they want. Easement rights are fundamental property law rights, and neither party can interfere with the other’s use of the easement. The City “unduly and unreasonably interfered” (the judge’s words) with the Stables’ easement rights by allowing thousands of people per month to traverse the easement road, and that is why the judge ordered an injunction and ordered the city to stop allowing access to the park through the easement road.
The non-exclusive ruling is what some people are not understanding. A non-exclusive easement doesn’t mean the City can do whatever they want. The Stables have rights to ingress and egress and the city cannot interfere with their easement rights. The City can still use the easement road in common with the Stables, but what they can’t do, is use it for a hiking trail for thousands of people per month. According to all parties involved in the lawsuit, Canyon Drive was the best alternative.
Judge Feffer order, also acknowledged that the easement road was never an officially recognized entrance to the park. “The Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners never approved the Beachwood Gate being an access point to Griffith Park . . . .” Griffith Park entrances of Canyon, Vermont, Riverside, Ferndall and Forest Lawn were all approved, recognized official entrances into the park with the proper attributes/ amenities (sidewalks, wider roads, bathrooms, etc). To learn more about the 110 year Canyon Drive entrance please look at headers: Land, Hollywoodland Gifted Park, 1923-1944, The Quarry .
