Goycoolea

The City of Los Angeles has appealed from a judgment against it in an action in inverse condemnation. The principal question to be resolved is whether, as a result of changes made in the street upon which the plaintiff’s property abuts, the plaintiff has suffered damage to her property rights for which compensation must be paid.

The plaintiff’s property is located on the west side of Castelar Street between Sunset Boulevard and Ord Street, not far from the Civic Center of Los Angeles. The lot has a frontage on Castelar Street of approximately 52 feet; it is 164 feet in depth. Before the changes made by the city, the property on both sides of the street was in a “depressed” residential area; most of the houses, including the one-story frame house on the plaintiff’s property, were probably more than 50 years old. The width of Castelar Street was then 80 feet, consisting of a sidewalk and parkway on each side of a width of 12 feet and a paved roadway 56 feet wide.

In 1959 the city completed the construction of an overpass or viaduct across Sunset Boulevard. That structure connects with Hill Street to the south and the roadway thereon is known as Hill Street. As set forth in the…