Meet Elizabeth Peterson-Gower of Elizabeth Peterson Group (EPG)

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Peterson-Gower.

Elizabeth, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My love of community, art and music landed me in the hospitality and nightlife industry early in my career. By the late 90s, I became a nightclub operator, booker, and partner, and had the pleasure of working at a number of well-known venues including At My Place in Santa Monica, St. Marks in Venice, and the Hollywood Athletic Club.

During my time in Hollywood, my interest in the community and its development grew. I began to see what profound effect one establishment could have on a surrounding area, and running a 4500 square-foot venue such as The Hollywood Athletic Club wasn’t necessarily easy. Ensuring my venues had a positive impact in the community became a priority for me. Clubs, bars, restaurants, and theatres can create vibrancy, making streets safer to walk at night, rather than more dangerous as some may believe.

It was from this perspective that I began to view the entirety of Hollywood, which frankly was not the safest of neighborhoods in the late 90s. It wasn’t until the ribbon cutting for the Red Line, that I began to see the career shift potential of this expanded passion and interest in development and nighttime economies. At the end of the ceremony, I hung back to have a conversation with Johnny Grant and several elected officials over a glass of wine. I’m not sure who exactly said this to me, but someone mentioned that they wished there were more venues like mine.

Venues that could invigorate the area, bringing more vibrancy to the community, making the streets safer to walk. This comment really struck me, and within days I found myself opening the doors to EPG. I felt certain we could use hospitality to spur development throughout all areas of LA. The vibrancy of such establishments would allow for commercial and residential to follow. Shortly after opening, I found myself working in Downtown LA as well. I’m pleased to say that one of my first clients was Tom Gilmore, working on the Banker’s Block project which included the San Fernando Building – the first adaptive reuse project in the Historic Core.

At the same time, we were entitled the Downtown Standard and had the privilege of working with Andre Balazs. From that point, things just took off, and our client roster grew quickly. It’s typical for us to manage about 85-125 projects at a time. Looking back 18 years later, I’m so pleased that I reacted to such a simple comment. There’s been so much development and these sorts of ideas have gone global. I now have the privilege of working all over the world on nightlife economies. Development of an entire block really can spring from a simple idea and one vibrant business.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
While it’s been an honor to walk along this road, it wasn’t always smooth. There’ve been a number of struggles along the way. More generally, there was the challenge of proving to the government and community that using hospitality as a tool for development would be safe. Getting the city agencies to realize that the hospitality owners were an asset to the community and they truly provided jobs, vibrancy, and safety.

Making sure all owners/operators had great security plans and the staff was vital to these venues being vibrant assets in the community. It takes a lot to run successful venues. There’s the challenges of construction and getting online. And then there’s the challenges of staying online. To do it, we discovered developing strong partnerships was key – with city planning departments, building & safety departments, local law enforcement, community stakeholders, and state government leaders. It’s through communication and collaboration that we’re able to build walkable, vibrant communities.

Then there were the struggles specific to the different communities we first began to work in. For example, few believed that Hollywood could again reemerge as an entertainment capital. The gangs were entrenched on the Blvd, the police department had very few officers, and there was a fear of bringing on more entertainment, especially venues that included alcohol. Many of the historic and iconic theaters were also sitting shuttered – the Henry Fonda, the Pantages, the Ricardo Montalban. And there were few daytime businesses operating.

The challenges in Downtown Los Angeles centered around what to do with all the vacant office buildings, aging infrastructure, and costs to retrofit historic buildings. There was the question of how to develop ground floor vibrancy as offices became residential and the lacking amenities. Back in the 90s, everything was pretty much shut down between 5 pm to 5 am. There was also a great need for an active police presence. Central Division is now one of the busiest and the station operates 24 hours per day.

Everyday community leaders, business owners, and the police department find new ways to participate collectively. Skid Row is also a great concern for everyone and I know we must all participate and find solutions that help eradicate homelessness and restore the quality of life. Downtown really has come a long way, but of course, there are still many challenges and room for a greater positive impact. I am pleased to continue to participate, and I feel so strongly about the future of DTLA and where it is heading. The challenges are many and the road may not always be smooth but I plan to continue to show up and participate.

There’s also the complexities of The City’s municipal code. Depending on the project, it’s easy for 4 or 5 years to go by before a business is able to open. Development isn’t for the faint of heart. It can be a long road taking a project from inception to operation. The City is trying to change the process. The Neighborhood Specific Plans are all being updated and Recode LA is in process. I do feel that there is some movement at the top to streamline some of the processes along the way.

Please tell us about Elizabeth Peterson Group (EPG).
EPG works to enhance communities through thoughtful development, one project at a time. Our focus is around developments that contribute to building safe, vibrant, walkable communities. An urban land-use and lobbying consultancy, we offer a plethora of land-use and business development services, bringing a project all the way from its inception to its operational phase.

We often coordinate all the way through Plan Check to Certificate of Occupancy. We specialize in mixed-use, adaptive reuse, and hospitality developments, working on a ground up and historic projects. Some of EPG’s iconic projects include the Los Angeles Ace Hotel, Freehand Hotel, The Nomad Hotel, The Globe Theater, The Edison, Wiltern Theater, Chateau Marmont, and The Standard, Downtown and Hollywood – as well as soon-to-come Former Broadway Trade Center and Second Home Hollywood.

I’m most proud of the embodiment of work that we’ve accomplished. Along with the full gamut of services we offer, we’ve also been able to curate so many of the mixed-use projects we’ve been involved with. I genuinely think that our clients are some of the brightest developers in LA, and feel so grateful and honored that we get to be a part of so many influential and impactful projects. I’m also really proud of the knowledge of our team– all the agility, and flexibility, and creativity coming to play on every project.

What were you like growing up?
Bookworm meets athletic, Cali-girl is how I’d describe myself growing up. I was an avid reader and absolutely loved learning – especially anything I could get my hands on about architecture and design. I had the privilege of spending a lot of time at the Ray and Charles Eames studio in Venice. And while it was typical to see me with my head in a book, from an early age, I was also very active.

You’d just as likely find me racing bicycles at the Encino Velodrome, or diving off the Santa Monica Pier to take a swim, or high-flying at Muscle Beach with my trainer Russ Saunders. For a time, I was even a professional acrobat and toured with the Ted Dewayne Circus, Circus Vargas, and a couple appearances with Ringling Brothers. Then later in my teens, I fell madly in love with dance and had the amazing opportunity to train under Joey Harris, performing in his company “The Group” and with Theater Art’s Project LA throughout the 70s. Saying all of this now, I feel very fortunate and proud to have been born and raised in Los Angeles.

Contact Info:

• Website: epgla.com
• Phone: (213) 620-1904

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