Not-So Capitol Idea

Talk of a possible Capitol Records building sale has a lot of Angelenos up in arms, as the L.A. Times notes. Everyone from the Mayor's office to the L.A. Conservancy know what they don't want to see happen to the building: Go condo.

A growing number of city leaders, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, are suggesting that the famous stacked-record tower is too much an icon to be turned into housing. They say that Los Angeles already has enough famous buildings that used to be something else and that they would prefer that the Capitol tower remain part of the music business. The tower, near the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, "is an operating, corporate headquarters," said Josh Kamensky, a spokesman for City Council President Eric Garcetti. "It's not just that they look like a stack of records. It's that the music of today and tomorrow is happening in there."

The sentiment is shared by other Angelenos, who say that they like the idea that music is still made inside the building and that it is not just a landmark of the past.

"If they leave, it'll take something away from Hollywood," said Erin Bennett, a hostess at Hollywood and Vine, a restaurant on the northeast corner of the famed intersection. "It'll be an old building that used to be something."

Losanjealous, meanwhile, is looking at ways to make it the blog's new headquarters. I'm in -- as long as the guys give Mr. T a floor of his own.