Legendary Hollywood studio installs planters on sidewalks to deter homeless encampments
Iconic Sunset Sound recording studio paid to install the planters as tents for homeless line the sidewalk outside the business
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The iconic Sunset Sound recording studio in Hollywood has paid for the installation of large planters outside its building on Sunset Boulevard in an effort to deter the homeless encampments that line the sidewalk.
Paul Camarata, president of Sunset Sound, told FOX Business the studio is following the lead of other businesses in the area, which have taken the same measure due to the number of tents blocking walkways and entrances along the street.
The president of Sunset Sound in Hollywood says installing planters has been "100% effective" in stopping the homeless from blocking the business as they have for months. (Sunset Sound / Fox News)
"It's been 100% effective," Camarata said. "It's probably the best thing I've done in years is getting the planters up, because it's kept [the homeless] away from our entrance, from blocking the driveway, from blocking our trash pickup, which has been horrific because they won't pick up the trash. If the doors are blocked… sometimes it would build up for weeks."
"It's a kind of a beautification of the neighborhood compared to the Third World country that it was looking like, because that's what it basically is," he continued. "It's very, very defaming for our clientele to come in and wade through this. The stuff that I've seen is unbelievable, in between the fighting, the nakedness, the defecation, just the overall needles on the street."
Homeless encampments set up outside Sunset Sound Recording Studio in Hollywood. (Sunset Sound / Fox News)
The studio, which boasts countless famous clients from over the decades – including The Rolling Stones, The Doors and The Beach Boys – was burglarized in February, and someone stole blank checks from the company during the break-in.
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Camarata told KTLA at the time that a longtime homeless encampment near the area had grown in recent months and was impacting business.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said last month in her State of the City address that "the crisis on our streets is nothing less than a disaster." (Getty Images)
"The police came, took a report and took some fingerprints, but we both came to the conclusion that it was the homeless, because one, they defecated on a drum set right in the lower level," Camarata said. "We store a lot of instruments, amplifiers and guitars and basses. A lot of them are clients’. They didn’t steal any of that."
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In her State of the City address last month, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass highlighted the city's struggle to house more than 40,000 homeless people, declaring that "the crisis on our streets is nothing less than a disaster."
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass at a press conference on Feb. 17, 2023. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The homeless crisis has affected everyone in the city, Bass said, driving away businesses and customers, costing taxpayers city resources and creating safety issues.
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The Democratic mayor touted her plans for moving the homeless into temporary housing that would eventually end the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.
To do this, Bass asked the wealthy to help "speed up" housing purchases for the homeless as the basis of her new initiative,"LA4LA."
FOX News' Yael Holan contributed to this report.