A call by Patch to Highland Park Heritage Trust

　　“The old windows had been falling apart and have been a hazard for the community,” said Hector Cruz, who has co-owned the three-story developing on 5577 N. Figueroa St. together with his mother considering that the previous five years.
　　“They had been incredibly costly to replace,” Cruz stated, adding that he got a $12,000 estimate for the repairs and replacement of eight with the original windows that he ended up changing. “And that is not even giving us a cushion of what’s to come,” he stated.
　　In installing a great deal cheaper windows, Cruz said he took a leaf in the historic windows that had been replaced with fixed-glass ones about a quarter-century ago at the former workplace of ex-Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg. Also located within the Mason Building, which has 19,000 square feet of floor space, Goldberg’s one-time workplace now houses the Good Girl Dinette Vietnamese fusion food restaurant.
　　But for all that, said Cruz, he didn’t realize he had committed a blunder by getting rid of the old windows. Specifically per week soon after he put in the eight new panes on June 26, an inspector in the Los Angeles Department of Developing and Safety served him a “stop work” order, Cruz stated, adding that by then each of the work around the windows had currently been completed.
　　The inspector told Cruz that since the Highland Park Masonic Creating is on the National Registry of Historic Locations, he's essential to obtain permission in the Los Angeles Historical Preservation Overlay Zone before carrying out any work that adjustments the building’s architectural integrity.
　　“The last factor I anticipated is for the neighborhood to send an inspector as opposed to coming and telling me what are the initial actions I need to have taken to replace the windows,” Cruz stated, adding: “I’ve had Autry Museum meetings, Neighborhood Council meetings at the building-I’ve supported everybody.”
　　Based on Cruz, it was Highland Park historian and Highland Park Heritage Trust member Charlie Fisher who allegedly reported him to the Division of Building and Safety. A call by Patch to Highland Park Heritage Trust requesting an interview with Fisher went unreturned.
　　Cruz stated it is not that he isn’t concerned about conservation issues surrounding his building, which was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1984. “We endeavor to balance safety and duty with our price range,” he said.
　　His response to critics who accuse him of negligence is that “if you are so concerned concerning the windows, why don’t you get a grant or funding to replace them?” Cruz said, adding that house owners for instance him can “hardly make it by in these tough [economic] times.”
　　The big question for Cruz, he said, was “do you maintain the windows because they appear nice or do you adjust them mainly because they’re falling apart and are a safety hazard?”
　　The concern of the unapproved windows was taken up this previous Tuesday by the Highland Park-Garvanza Historical Preservation Overlay Zone at its bimonthly board meeting in Ramona Hall, Cruz said, adding that he was notified regarding the meeting but didn’t attend.
　　The Mason Developing may have lost its original windows, but there’s still a window of chance to obtain them back.
　　“We’ve saved each of the tiny pieces of glass,” mentioned Cruz. “So if anything significant would come about, I’d be most content to replace them.”