COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Elizabeth’s personal and professional commitment to the Silver Lake community is deep. She first joined the Chamber of Commerce as a licensed architect with 30 + years of professional practice in the United States and Europe.
From 2003 to 2012 Elizabeth was elected and multiple times re-elected as a Board Member of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council.
Elizabeth saw global changes coming to Silver Lake, and given her citizen and professional responsibilities to the community, quickly formed the Silver Lake Urban Design & Preservation Committee (UDP). Her objective was to ensure that new development “preserve and enhance” Silver Lake and not being detracted from it.
Consider the challenges of building in a hillside area, where increased demand for housing presents a motivation to raze and rebuild. The UDP worked collaboratively to find consensus on difficult design problems for the best possible outcome and then advises the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council (which in turn advises the city). It was neighborhood democracy in action!
An Au Revoir to Longtime Boardmember Elizabeth Bougart-Sharkov
October 11, 2012
Elizabeth Bougart-Sharkov, longtime SLNC Governing Board member and community activist, was presented with an award for her service at the October 3rd Governing Board meeting. Ryan Carpio from Councilman Eric Garcetti’s office did the honors.
Elizabeth is retiring from the Board after nine years as a Representative-at-Large. As a design professional with over 30 years experience as an architect, she established the SLNC Urban Design & Preservation Advisory Committee (UD&PAC) as an important tool and voice for Silver Lake stakeholders regarding design, development and preservation issues affecting the community.
The committee’s philosophy is that while proposed new development can be beneficial for the community, it must also be compatible with the established neighborhood character. Elizabeth has been a resident of Silver Lake since 1990 after emigrating from Bulgaria in 1987 to join her family.
She joined the Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce with her architectural practice which started her community activism. The SLNC and all its stakeholders owe Elizabeth a debt of gratitude for her dedicated service in making Silver Lake a better place for all of us.
In 2024 the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission appointed Elizabeth Bougart-Sharkov as a Member on the Hollywood Historic Preservation overlay Zone (HPOZ) Board.
HPOZ Board make all decisions related to; maintenance, repair, restoration and minor alterations to a property within a declared HPOZ.
HPOZ Board serves as an advisory body to the Department of City planning related to new construction, large additions and major alterations of rehabilitation projects.
In addition to its role as a decision making body, the HPOZ Board us an educational resource with unique experience and expertise both in historic preservation practices and in the rich history of this culturally and architecturally significant neighborhood.