sf wrote:
>
> On Sun, 23 Oct 2011 12:41:53 -0700, Terry Pulliam Burd
> > wrote:
>
> >
> > There's a hat shop on Vine nearly to the corner of Hollywood called
> > "Movieland Hat Designers" that I've been by dozens of times during the
> > day (it's en route from the Metro to my Hollywood office) and it is
> > *never* open. Has a display window full of hats, but it is never, ever
> > open. My boss and I figure it's a mob front <g>
>
> We had a similar store a few blocks from me (for decades) - we figured
> they were laundering money. I haven't noticed it for a while, but I
> haven't looked for it either. Maybe they moved on or maybe the law
> caught on and busted them.

There's a big Kelley-Moore paint store near
where I live, and it never seems to have any
cars parked in front of it. It is open, I
stopped there once when I was looking for paint,
but they seem to be doing very little business.

My theory is that the landlord is giving them
a free ride, or nearly so, to preserve its
Prop 13 tax assessment. Real estate around here
is very expensive, and that would be a way to
ride the advance in property value without
paying the much higher property taxes that
would result from reassessment. If I understand
the law correctly, reassessment would be triggered
by switching the property to another business,
so it has to remain a paint store.