Great question. I really miss two South Bay legends, TW Maggie and HK CiCi -- and yes, it was great .. in the case of Maggie, she was booked solid every day ..
When you think about it, it's actually a tall order -- you have a woman who's willing to do the business, fluent in English, organized enough to field hundreds of inquiries a day, screen, book, schedule, and do solid 50+ minute sessions.
Methinks a big factor for the decline of independents is/was the one-two punch of SESTA and housing crisis .. it's not just the ad boards that are at risk; your "fronts" for renting apartments, proxy bank accounts, etc are now liable for heavy federal raps. The housing crisis meant that even the crappiest, most run down 60's apartments and motel rooms could rent for full whack to square joes and janes who would tolerate all sorts of onerous rules just to have a place to live.
Case in point .. the last time I rented a place, I was told that I could only be there from 8pm to 8am, no use of common areas, no more than 3 days a week.. I gave the place up when the LL told me he wanted me to match AirBnB rates -- $2k/week during the big trade shows..