Campobasso

The Peopleappeal from the order of dismissal entered after the trial court granted defendant’s motion to suppress evidence pursuant to Penal Code, section 1538.5. They contend: “I. The observations of an officer from a place he lawfully had a right to be do not constitute a search. II. When the officer observed the large quantities of drugs he believed were illegally possessed in the open storage locker, he had reasonable cause to arrest whoever possessed that storage locker.”

On January 12, 1987, Los Angeles Police Officer Peter Walker and several other officers traveled to a North Hollywood public storage facility, after Walker had received a telephone call from an unidentified male reporting *1482 the presence of a large quantity of “drugstore-type” narcotics in locker number 17 at that location.

Upon his arrival, Walker simply drove into the complex since it was open to the public. When he reached the designated locker, which was inside a building “with dozens and dozens of rental lockers,” its door stood ajar one to two feet, apparently as the result of a recent burglary. From his vantage point in the hallway outside the locker, the officer observed scattered about…