In Eagle Rock, Jeremy and Debbie Kaplan say a 30-day notice set their used-bookstore Read Books on track for a rent jump from $1,200 to $2,805 starting April 1. After finding California’s Commercial Tenant Protection Act (Senate Bill 1103), they and other loca
On a Tuesday evening in Eagle Rock, Jeremy and Debbie Kaplan were closing up their used-bookstore when a stranger rushed inside. An envelope landed on the counter, a few words followed—“Building’s been sold”—and then the person was gone.
Inside, the Kaplans found the terms of what came next. Their monthly rent for Read Books—an Eagle Rock fixture in a 680-square-foot shop stuffed with more than 20. 000 books—was set to rise from $1. 200 to $2. 805 on April 1. The notice also laid out a tight deadline: they would need to decide whether to accept the increase more than 133%—and. if they did. agree to a three- to five-year lease. The letter arrived Feb. 17, leaving them 11 days to either accept the new terms or leave.
Jeremy Kaplan said the math didn’t allow for bargaining. “We couldn’t even consider it,” he said. “It would be suicide.”
Their first reaction. he said. was panic—partly because of the physical reality of their store. and partly because of what he felt was being forced on them. From the floor to ceiling. the shelves and the space they had built together were stained and packed by the work of nearly 20 years. “My first reaction was panic,” Kaplan said. “How are we going to move out of this place?”.
The couple began to look for answers the next day. Jeremy Kaplan said they were being pushed out through intimidation tactics, and “We started getting angry. So the next day, we started looking into our legal rights.”
After searching online, they found California’s Senate Bill 1103, the Commercial Tenant Protection Act, which passed last year. The law, they said, offers protections for “qualified commercial tenants,” requiring landlords to give a 90-day notice for rent increases surpassing 10%.
When Jeremy Kaplan tried to contact the new property management company, he said Systems Real Estate was evasive. The Kaplans and their neighbor. Sharon Kroner. whose vintage boutique Owl Talk is facing the same fate. wrote to Systems Real Estate citing SB 1103. They had the letter certified and attached their rent checks for the next month.
In response, the 30-day notice was amended to 90 days. Systems Real Estate did not respond to a request from The Times for comment.
Jeremy Kaplan said he saw a pattern developing across Northeast Los Angeles as they searched for what came after Read Books. “Vacant spaces all over the place,” he said. When they inquired about other spaces. he said. “they were ludicrously expensive. most over $5 per square foot.” He also pointed to small businesses vanishing—closing or being priced out in the same way. “The second thing we started noticing was small stores like ours going out of business or being priced out in the exact same way we were.”.
As Jeremy Kaplan began posting about Read Books’ situation, the response was immediate. Customers reached out, he said, with more than sympathy—many wanted to help. “Not mere condolences but calls to action from people I barely knew,” he said. “Lawyers, journalists, activists, parents, children.”
Two days after the rent-increase notice was delivered, the Kaplans and their supporters were already devising a plan. Even if it couldn’t save Read Books, Jeremy Kaplan said they wanted to fight to protect other small businesses. That effort took shape as Save North East Los Angeles Shops.
Chris Newman. an immigrant rights lawyer. said he came to the group’s first official meeting intending to try to save the bookstore. His son, Newman said, learned to read with books bought at the Eagle Rock shop. Newman told The Times he was struck by the scope of what people were describing: not just a single loss. but what he called an epidemic affecting small businesses.
At a coalition meeting in April, Jeremy Kaplan rushed in late. He had just come from a conversation where he spoke with Mayor Karen Bass about the plight small businesses are facing. and asked about imposing a commercial vacancy tax on property owners who leave storefronts vacant for extended periods. Jeremy Kaplan said the mayor was sympathetic. but “shot him down pretty swiftly. ” adding that. he said. “nobody in L.A. wants more taxes.”.
A representative for Bass said that under her leadership, “the City is focused on cutting red tape, expanding support for local businesses, and advancing solutions that address the broader affordability crisis.”
The impulse to organize around rent and vacancies has its own precedent. In March 2020—before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down daily life—small businesses in San Francisco were grappling with rising rents that led to empty storefronts. North Beach’s Caffe Sapore received its own notice. and local residents and business owners began organizing rather than simply absorbing the loss.
Aaron Peskin, then a member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, said commercial landlords had unrealistic expectations of rent. “Commercial landlords had unbelievably unrealistic expectations of rent. and a small business can only sell a T-shirt or a hamburger or a service for what the market will bear. and none of them could swing the rent. ” Peskin said.
That year, Peskin authored Proposition D, a commercial vacancy tax ordinance. The measure applied to street-facing, ground-floor properties vacant for more than 182 days a year. It passed with nearly 70% of the vote.
Peskin called it one of his proudest public-policy efforts. “I served on that Board of Supervisors for 17 years. and it’s one of my proudest pieces of public policy. ” he said. “In the years since it passed. it has been working and has really helped in the post-pandemic recovery in our neighborhood commercial corridors. It’s been a rare instant success story.”.
Back in Los Angeles, the Kaplans’ push for protections has also brought sharper debate over motive—why a landlord would buy a commercial property, raise rent until current tenants are displaced, and then leave a community hub to collect cobwebs.
Peskin pointed to what he described as an impractical landlord mentality. An L.A. councilmember suspected landlords were after tax breaks. A professor of economics said more than taxes were likely in play. A commercial real estate expert said landlords were pricing tenants out so they can tear buildings down.
The Times reached out to Dr. Ari Ucar, identified as the new owner of the Eagle Rock Boulevard building, but he did not respond.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado. a former tenant rights attorney. said landlords can benefit by claiming vacancy as a loss on their taxes. “For landlords who own multiple commercial properties in a wide portfolio, a vacancy can be marked as a loss. In essence, when you file taxes and mark this as a loss, it reduces the total income generated. That’s the perverse incentive of having a vacancy.”.
But Andrew Gradman, a Los Angeles tax attorney, said the tax incentive might not be enough to explain the behavior. “You have to consider the most reasonable premise. which is that these landlords think they can get a better tenant. or they think that the lease would stand in the way of their getting some other better deal. in the form of. say. selling the whole building.”.
Nick Quackenbos, a commercial real estate broker, said the likely motive behind a steep price hike is plans to scrape the building and build apartments. He pointed to State Senate Bill 79, which he said overrides local zoning laws to allow for taller, denser buildings near major transit stops.
SB 79 takes effect statewide July 1, while L.A. plans to delay citywide upzoning until 2030 by carving out bespoke plans targeting 55 single-family and low-density areas. In those areas, Quackenbos said, 4-16 unit buildings up to four stories tall would be allowed. He described the 55 areas as mostly in Central L.A., West L.A., the Eastside and the San Fernando Valley.
Eagle Rock, he said, isn’t designated an “opportunity hub” right now. Read Books sits a stone’s throw from the upcoming Colorado/Eagle Rock station. a stop on the North Hollywood to Pasadena BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) line slated to launch ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics. Quackenbos said SB 79 could still change how places like Eagle Rock are treated.
“The bill is allowing things to take place which could disfigure a city like Eagle Rock,” Quackenbos said. “I bet that’s what you’re going to find down the road: These places will become vacant, and suddenly there’s groundbreaking for a new apartment building going up.”
In the end, the fight played out in public. Read Books was set to close last weekend, and the Kaplans wanted to leave with a message. In the shop’s front window was a single book: “The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto” by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West. Around it were signs reading “Forced Out!,” “Shame on Greedy Landlords,” and “Our Family Loves Read Books.”.
Debbie Kaplan stayed at the register inside, helping a steady flow of final patrons as protesters gathered behind the building, clutching homemade posters and waiting for Jeremy to speak.
He stepped to the crowd, choking up as he tried to put words to what had happened since the notice arrived.
“Three months ago, when this all began, my initial action was to fight back, because fighting is my default setting. But I also felt … fear of insignificance. of disappearing. as if everything we built in the last 19 years. often working seven days a week. might soon be dismantled and forgotten. The support you’ve gifted us with these last few months has been a constant reminder that we’re all in this together.“.
He said the real estate lobby is powerful, and then turned that imbalance into a promise. “The real estate lobby is rich and powerful. They have more lobbyists than our representatives have staff, but we are building a coalition to fight them.”
“What’s at stake? The soul of Los Angeles.”
Eagle Rock Read Books Jeremy Kaplan Debbie Kaplan Systems Real Estate SB 1103 Commercial Tenant Protection Act rent increase small business coalition Save North East Los Angeles Shops rent notice commercial vacancy tax Karen Bass Proposition D San Francisco