Finally Time for Facade Improvement?

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — When commenter Joel C saw this week’s article in the Downtown News saying that Clifton’s had finally bought their building, he asked the same question that came to my mind (paraphrasing):

Now that they own the building, can something finally be done about the ugly facade on that building?

It’s amazing that Clifton’s rented for as long as they did. The article indicates the restaurant building was bought from the descendants of J.E. Carr, who also built the building next door in 1910. I would imagine this means they still own that one and its similarly ugly facade, but I don’t know that for sure.