As soon as Echo Park Eats popped up on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Douglas Street in the fall of 2023, Sandy Romero said her neighborhood got swarmed with delivery drivers. “The first day they started doing business, it was a complete mess, total chaos, and now it’s just a big pain,” she complained. Echo Park Eats is a ghost kitchen, a spot where meals are prepared for delivery orders made through apps. They rent out their kitchens to 26 different food vendors. This facility is part of CloudKitchens, which is led by Travis Kalanick, one of the folks who started Uber Technologies. They have kitchen locations all over the nation, with 11 in Los Angeles County alone.
In an already crowded neighborhood, with seasonal traffic from Dodger Stadium nearby, the folks living on Douglas Street say that the ghost restaurant suddenly brought in more people, cars, trash, and crime. Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who looks after the district where the neighborhood is, mentioned that there is a big issue that goes beyond just parking and traffic safety. The ghost kitchen, which took the place of a medical office, is classified as a catering business, allowing it to operate next to a residential area, he explained. The concept of ghost kitchens has only been around since the 2010s, so there isn’t a current land-use definition for them. CloudKitchens didn’t get back to us right away when we asked for a comment.
The facility is a problem “that really shouldn’t be in a residential area, especially not on a residential street,” said Erika Torres, who has lived on Douglas Street for over 30 years. She lives just two houses away from the facility’s rear parking lot and is annoyed by the swarm of food carriers on mopeds speeding along the sidewalk, the traffic jams on her block, and the strong smell of oil, onions, and other cooked foods seeping into her home. She, along with other neighbors, have heard heated arguments between drivers trying to get in and out of the parking lot, as well as loud music playing early in the morning and late at night. Several concerned neighbors preferred not to be named, mentioning safety worries. Another neighbor, J.C. Arias, suspects a link between the increase in people coming into the neighborhood and a rise in theft on the block, including stolen tools and license plates. An email thread was started to talk about the safety issues and possible solutions to the ghost restaurant problem, with as many as 90 people involved, including neighbors, Soto-Martinez’s district staff, and other city staff. The email chain is still active to this day.
