Two cars crashed into 606 N. Larchmont Boulevard around 5 p.m. Wednesday, November 4, shattering the plate-glass window at the office of the Larchmont Chronicle after one of the drivers ran the stop sign at Larchmont Boulevard and Clinton Street. No one involved suffered serious injuries, but the impact sent both vehicles onto the curb and into the building, marking the second time in roughly a year that a car has slammed into a structure at that same four-way intersection.
According to Larchmont Buzz, a Mercedes driver heading north on Larchmont Boulevard ran the stop sign and crashed into a BMW crossing the intersection, pushing both cars onto the curb and through the Chronicle office window. The Mercedes driver was taken away with what seemed to be minor injuries, and the Los Angeles Fire Department arrived within minutes, with Los Angeles police arriving afterward, per the Larchmont Chronicle. The city later boarded up the broken windows and cleared debris from the intersection, the Chronicle reported, and a staff member there said glass and debris sprayed into the office and onto the sidewalk when the cars collided.
A Second Building Hit in Under a Year
The crash echoes a collision last March, when a southbound vehicle collided with a westbound vehicle at the same intersection and the southbound car flipped onto its side, damaging the POLAM Credit Union building's standpipe and causing significant water damage. Larchmont Buzz dated that earlier crash to March 8, while the Beverly Press described a March 15 collision in which a vehicle jumped a curb and came to rest on its side against a building at the southeast corner — accounts that differ on the exact date. POLAM CEO Jennifer Audette was quoted by Larchmont Buzz estimating the damage would exceed $1 million and possibly more in one report, while a later Larchmont Buzz account quoted her describing the damage as approaching $2 million; POLAM has had to relocate while its building is repaired. Audette also described the intersection as very dangerous, saying she would not walk across it.
Elsewhere on the boulevard, a car previously crashed into the plate-glass window of Aēsop at 128 1/2 N. Larchmont Boulevard, with no injuries reported, according to a separate Larchmont Buzz report. Bystander video described in that account showed an SUV driving onto the sidewalk and hitting the storefront window, shattering the glass and bringing down part of the metal frame.
Neighbors Say the City Hasn't Acted
Sam Uretsky, president of the Larchmont United Neighborhood Association and a community member of the GWNC Transportation Committee, said neighbors have documented five serious accidents at the intersection between November 2025 and November 2026. A motion LUNA submitted in March cited at least four documented, serious vehicular accidents at the intersection since November 2025. Residents and local businesses have also complained that drivers frequently run the four-way stop signs there, a pattern the Beverly Press observed firsthand on April 1, when three southbound motorists were seen rolling through the intersection within a five-minute span; the outlet also reported that the LAPD's West Traffic Division has been directing resources to the intersection and citing drivers.
LUNA escalated its efforts with Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez's CD13 office after the POLAM crash and met with LADOT staff and officials, but no traffic-calming measures have been installed, Uretsky said. LADOT told the group the intersection is not on the city's list of most dangerous intersections, according to Uretsky, and the agency declined to support a flashing-stop-sign request that LUNA had prepared with GWNC backing, citing maintenance costs and diminishing effectiveness over time. Uretsky said LADOT cares about the problem but lacks funding as the mayor's office has shifted resources toward Olympic preparations, leaving north-south traffic to continue speeding through the stop signs.
Why Residents Call This the Boulevard's Worst Corner
Uretsky described the recurring crashes as part of a broader safety and traffic-calming issue along Larchmont Boulevard, but said the intersection at Larchmont and Clinton has the worst traffic-safety problem on the street because other intersections along the boulevard have traffic lights. He noted that Page private school sits near the intersection and warned that someone could easily have been seriously hurt. The city should install traffic-calming controls, he said, and if someone eventually is hurt, a documented record will show the neighborhood asked for help beforehand.
Uretsky urged residents to attend LUNA's community meeting Thursday, November 5, at 6:30 p.m. at Christ the King Church and to press Soto-Martínez's office to address the situation. The Larchmont Buzz report on the Wednesday crash was written by publisher Patricia Lombard, who moved to the neighborhood in 1989 and co-owns Chevalier's Books.
