A faded neon sign with missing letters points to the entrance of a Boyle Heights hardware store on Whittier Boulevard. Down the street, the storefront of a Mexican bakery is nameless except for an envelope-sized nameplate hanging on the front door.

“This is not a pretty neighborhood,” said Leticia Gonzales, owner of Eastside Hardware Supply Co. along Whittier Boulevard. “Honestly, to me it’s an ugly neighborhood. It could use a couple of facelifts.”

The Adelante Eastside Redevelopment Project, supporters say, is the best chance to revive neighborhoods like Gonzales’, as well as industrial areas in East Los Angeles. The project includes a patchwork of land totaling 2,164 acres in Boyle Heights and El Sereno, from the Los Angeles River to Indiana Street.

But Gonzales and other merchants remain skeptical. Not that they wouldn’t like to see a revitalization of this long-forgotten retail strip just east of downtown. But these people have seen the results of such government efforts before and they aren’t impressed.

The problem with government-sponsored redevelopment, business owners say, is that the benefits are rarely seen. In fact, many are still feeling the after-effects of some earlier projects. Federal housing that replaced single-family homes are now crime-ridden and crumbling. More than 40 years ago, the state built freeways that split neighborhoods in half and, according to some merchants, served to isolate their businesses by cutting them off from the community.

“Ever since they quartered off this area of Boyle Heights with the (10), (5) and (60) freeways, all the growth happened on the fringe,” said Lionel Hernandez, owner of Farmacia Profesional, a 59-year-old drugstore that located on Euclid Avenue and Whittier Boulevard long before the freeways appeared. “There’s a lot of action on Cesar Chavez (Avenue) this area is stagnant.”

Hernandez, like most of the merchants in this district, speaks in unaccented English. Many are second- or third-generation children of Mexican immigrants who arrived prior to World War II and who inherited their sometimes-crumbling stores from their parents and grandparents.

Boosters of the Adelante project, which would pump $25 million to $50 million in redevelopment funds into the target areas over 30 years, say the sagging retail communities could be helped by offering loans to businesses to paint their storefronts and replace crumbling awnings and signs.

“The changes may seem minor but there is an opportunity there to upgrade these buildings and streets, and give these structures a new image and a facelift,” said Raul Escovedo, an environmental planner who has worked closely on the Eastside redevelopment project. “A lot of these stores have been there for many years. Some would consider them marginal businesses, but they do provide services to the community and they can be assisted.”

Several blocks west of Hernandez’s drugstore is Odono’s Meat Market, which has operated along this stretch of Whittier Boulevard for more than 40 years. A faded yellow awning, sagging in the middle, sits above the market’s entrance. On the wall above it are gaping holes where once there were signs.

“We really could use the money to fix up this place,” said Elvira Cabrera, manager at Odono’s for more than two decades.

But Cabrera and others who support the revitalization plan have grown frustrated with the drawn-out proceedings for a project first introduced by City Councilman Richard Alatorre more than five years ago.

“I’ve heard about Adelante but nothing happens,” said Cabrera. “You get to the point where you just don’t believe it anymore.”

Redevelopment officials say the revitalization plan is nearing completion. A final Environmental Impact Report is being prepared, and the proposal could go before the city Planning Commission in a few months.

“There’s a lot of stuff that needs to be done here,” said Iev Villanueva, owner of Extreme Sports Wear, a clothing retailer on Whittier Boulevard. His store is one of the newest structures on this decaying stretch between Camulos Street and Lorena Boulevard. Villanueva’s building is just 3 years old and sits next to two vacant storefronts that are decades old.

He would like to see more than a few buildings painted and signs replaced. “They should knock down some of these old buildings. It will get more people interested in this area,” he said.

But other merchants simply like things the way they are, and resist efforts to change. Eliseo Rivera, owner of Rivera’s TV Service, wants no part of the project.

“I heard about it around the time of the earthquake,” said Rivera. “I don’t care what they have to say.”

The project, which would be two-thirds industrial and one-third commercial, likely would include one or two major projects, including a 200,000-square-foot shopping center. No site for the retail center has been selected.

Escovedo said forced relocation of merchants will be minimal and most of the targeted buildings will be those that “have outlived their usefulness.”

“A lot of people get afraid of the CRA’s power of eminent domain, but what everyone has to remember is that the goal here is to help existing businesses expand,” said Escovedo. “I don’t know anyone who would rally against that.”