Five 'illegal' Laurel Canyon homes to be demolished after decades-long fight, L.A. says

Five partially completed homes in the Laurel Canyon community that have been the subject of two decades of legal battles will be torn down under a plea agreement with the homes' developers, Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced in a statement.The unfinished, three-story, 5,000-square-foot single-family homes along N. Woodstock Road near Mulholland Drive were part of a planned 21-home development for which permits were issued in 1998 and 1999.Read more: Marilyn Monroe's L.A. home escapes demolition — againThe first five homes in the project were under construction when, in 2002, the L.A. Planning Commission placed a six-month moratorium on the project pending an environmental impact assessment to be drafted by the property developers.The impact assessment did not happen, the city attorney alleged in a 2021 statement, and the city ordered the homes demolished in 2003, according to news reports at the time.For more than two decades after the city issued its standing order, a series of buyers scooped up the properties and attempted to restart the project without first tearing the existing structures down, the statement said.After the properties were purchased by developers Shahram and Ester Ghalili in 2020, neighbors alleged that construction at the homes had begun again.Then-City Attorney Mike Feuer brought 35 criminal charges against the couple in 2021 after investigating the site.The owner pleaded guilty on Aug. 7 to five counts of failure to comply with lawful orders issued by the Department of Building and Safety, Feldstein Soto's office said.“For far too many years, the Laurel Canyon community has dealt with these dangerous, dilapidated homes that were ordered to be taken down more than two decades ago,” said Feldstein Soto. “We took action to end this problem once and for all.”The owners will be required to demolish the homes by Aug. 7, 2026, or face probation, community service and a $25,000 fine.Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.