Street Vendors To Return To Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood Bowl Area

HOLLYWOOD, CA — Street vending is set to return to the biggest tourist areas in Hollywood after the City Council this week lifted a ban on sidewalk vendors in certain parts of Los Angeles.

The council voted unanimously on Tuesday to eliminate seven zones where street vendors were prohibited from operating, including the Hollywood Walk of Fame and near the Hollywood Bowl.

"Street vending often provides new immigrants an opportunity to become entrepreneurs," Council President Paul Krekorian said. "I know this personally because by grandfather sold melons on Sunset Boulevard when he first came to this country."

The new, more permissive rules will take place in about a month, city officials said.

The move comes after the council had previously advanced a plan to create a "special vending zone" for the Hollywood area that would have allowed some sort of special permission for vendors to operate in the area.

The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday also approved a pair of ordinances regulating sidewalks food vendors and adopted a program meant to subsidize the cost of permits for such vendors.

On Friday, Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez introduced a motion that seeks to make it easier for vendors to navigate the requirements of doing business, including exploring potential reimbursement programs for permit fees.