The Las Tunas Makeover Stops at the Storefront Line

The City of Temple City set aside $285,000 for its contractor to furnish and install up to 31 awnings on downtown Las Tunas Drive storefronts. Four businesses signed agreements. Meanwhile the rest of the Las Tunas Drive Streetscape Project, a plan the City Council approved on October 12, 2023, is nearly complete, according to an October 13, 2026 staff report.

Nearly everything that changed sits on the City's side of the property line: poles, pavers, signals, planters, utility boxes. The part that depended on private storefronts opting in will show up at four addresses.

What the City Could Do Without Asking Anyone

The 2023 staff report defined a wide footprint. It covered most of Las Tunas Drive, the public parking lots behind it, and Temple City Boulevard between Workman and Woodruff. The estimate was $3,406,719 with escalation, and the funding plan budgeted $3,137,438 from the Lighting and Landscape District and $269,280 from federal ARPA funds. City documents from 2026 round the total to $3.1 million.

Most of that money went into infrastructure the City already owned. The Community Development Department's 2025 year-end report and the 2025 State of the City speech list the completed work:

• Sidewalk pots and new landscaping
• New street signs along Las Tunas Drive
• Streetlights converted to LED and repainted
• Traffic signals and tree grates repainted
• Pavers releveled
• New benches and trash cans
• Seasonal vinyl banners designed for Las Tunas

The City also designed and fabricated signs welcoming people downtown. The State of the City speech described them as four illuminated entry signs in pink and magenta.

The Boxes at the Corners

The most visible public-side change is the art. The City hired 20 local artists to paint 26 utility boxes with artwork unique to Temple City.

The selection ran through the Parks and Recreation Commission, sitting as the Public Arts Commission. At its November 20, 2024 meeting, the commission reviewed 30 proposed artworks and recommended 26. The call for artists had gone out through social media, local art organizations and schools. Commissioners discussed motifs that included zodiac imagery, a cactus, teapots, the City gazebo and ranch-style houses.

Those boxes are the closest the streetscape gets to individual expression, and they stand on public ground too. The City could commission them the same way it repainted the signals.

Thirty-One Awnings on Paper

The storefront side of the plan worked differently. The 2023 project included a Storefront Improvement Grant Program. Under it, the City's contractor would furnish and install awnings for eligible businesses, with consistent pricing and one design across the street. The awning study area ran from Kauffman to Loma.

Council sized the budget at $285,000 for up to 31 awnings, each averaging about 30 feet wide by 4 feet deep. Staff expected to spend roughly $9,194 per participating business. On May 18, 2026, the City hired Van Nuys Awnings to prepare typical design drawings.

The October 13, 2026 staff report then states the result plainly:

"The City currently has four approved agreements. Because participation has been lower than anticipated, staff recommend providing each approved applicant with awnings for all windows that meet the Program requirements, even if the cost for an individual business exceeds the original estimate of $9,194."

So the program's math reversed. The City planned a thin spread across many storefronts. It now plans fuller coverage at a few. Staff expect costs to come in "well below" the original $285,000.

The slow uptake isn't new. In November 2024, the Temple City High School paper The Rampage described the grant programs as off to a "slower start," with the project encouraging restaurants to apply.

Four Addresses, Twelve Awnings

The bid package the Council approved names the participating businesses and sets the scope at 12 complete awnings of varying widths. Each has a 2-foot drop and a 4-foot projection, and the design sheet gives an overall installation range of 9160 to 9720 Las Tunas Drive. The participant list also includes one business on Temple City Boulevard, just off Las Tunas.

Twelve awnings across four businesses works out to an average of three each. That fits staff's recommendation to cover every eligible window at each participating storefront. The drawings in the package are for pricing, not construction, so the final configuration depends on the contract.

The bid solicitation was issued October 20, 2026. Bids are due November 17, 2026, at 2:00 p.m., and the estimated contract value is about $65,000. After the City awards the contract and issues a notice to proceed, the schedule allows up to 40 working days for procurement and 15 working days for field installation. No awning work starts until bids are opened two weeks from now, and the full schedule after that is measured in weeks of working days. The new canvas will arrive after the holiday season begins on Las Tunas.

The awning contract uses no federal funds. The Council appropriated $225,000 in the Fiscal Year 2026 to 2027 budget to finish the remaining streetscape work, and staff say no additional money is needed for the awnings.

Signs and Café Tables, the Other Opt-In Pieces

Awnings weren't the only part of the plan that required a business to raise its hand. The 2023 package also included programs for café furniture and blade signs, the small perpendicular signs that hang over the sidewalk.

A May 7, 2024 staff report covered the City's bulk purchase of café tables, umbrellas and chairs for the grant program. For blade signs, the June 16, 2026 staff report says six participating businesses signed agreements in April 2026. It recommended City purchase and installation under a contract capped at $33,912.05.

Six blade signs and four awning participants add up to a light layer of private-side change on a corridor where the public side was redone almost end to end. The streetscape gives downtown a consistent frame of matching lights, signals, planters and banners, and the ten businesses in the awning and blade-sign programs will carry that look onto their storefronts.

December 4, Under the Trees

The next time most of Temple City sees the full stretch at once will be Lights on Temple City on Friday, December 4, 2026, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. The event is free and centers on Temple City Park at 9701 Las Tunas Drive. It begins at 5:00 p.m. with arts and crafts, carolers, community booths and photos with Santa.

At 7:00 p.m., the holiday parade sets off from Las Tunas and Cloverly and heads to the park. According to the City's listing, the trees along Las Tunas light up as the parade passes.

That route passes the rebuilt public side of downtown: LED streetlights, repainted signals and tree grates, planters and painted utility boxes. The four awning addresses come later, on a schedule set by a bid that closes November 17.

If you own a storefront building on Las Tunas, or a home nearby, and you're wondering how changes like these affect what a property is worth, I'm glad to go through it with you. Downtown frontage and curb presentation are among the details I look at closely when I help clients prepare a property or weigh a purchase in Temple City. Let's Connect with Gordon Wang.