Historic Former St. Charles Borromeo Church for Sale

The former church that used to be home to the St. Charles Borromeo congregation until 1959 has been put up for sale.

The Web site CurbedLA brought the sale to our attention, via one of North Hollywood-Toluca Lake Patch's most loyal readers and valuable tipsters, James. The building was built in 1938 and currently houses . According to the church's Web site, the congregation outgrew the 600-seat church and moved to their in 1959.

Patch reached the building's owner, Michael Gold, by phone to find out the history of the place.

Gold said he has owned the church since 1977 and it used to be home to his garment business, New Hero, which specialized in Native American clothing. He bought the building that currently houses , which is next door to the church, in 1974.

"My partner and I wanted to get into the garment business, but we didn't want to be downtown because of the garment mentality," said Gold.

He said the out-of-the-way location on Satsuma Avenue worked to their advantage.

"People loved the fact that they couldn't find us. It created some mystique," said Gold.

A few years after opening up, the church next door went up for sale, and Gold and his partner bought it.

"I figured every Jewish boy should own a church," Gold joked.

Gold said he and his partner closed their business in 1991 and retired. They also left the building to their five children between the two of them, but now as they both are approaching their 80s think it would be wise to sell the building to avoid the children having to squabble over the property.

"You never know, one may want to sell, one may want to keep it," Gold said.

The building is listed for sale at $650,000.