Living in the Capitol Records Building?

Recently, a high level Mayor's office staffer said that there has been a conversation about a proposal to convert portions of the Capitol Records Building to residential living spaces: apartments & condos.




This iconic building on Yucca & Vine (built as the first circular office tower in 1956) has been home to "the business" since it opened, with some of music's biggest stars recording there. (Founded by Johnny Mercer, Capitol was the first West Coast based recording label competing with the East Coast's Decca & Columbia.)

It's even a special building in the SimCity computer game:








If it does indeed turn into residential, it will be a blow to the business community symbolically more than literally. There's plenty of newer, sleeker office suites in the area, but to lose this landmark building to residents presents a perplexing challenge. Will the new residents start to complain about the nightspots that stay open all hours and create noise? Will they fight new development good for Hollywood? And how will the parade-producing Hollywood Chamber react to the loss of business space? In L.A., most folks don't complain about converting commercial zones to residential, but it never goes the other way.

So, as the famous needle atop the building's misnamed "stack of 45s" blinks "Hollywood" in Morse code, will the residents demand it to be changed to "No Solicitors" or "Business Not Welcome"?

What's next, converting the Theme Building at LAX to residential?

How about building townhouses along the San Pedro harbor coastline.
No one argues that we need more housing in the region, but as a City Nerd, I say, put housing where housing belongs, not just where there's empty space.