We should really send these newsletters more often! So many interesting things have been happening, so buckle up and we'll get you up to speed.
Since we are ostensibly a sightseeing tour company, we'll begin with the news that our early 2020 schedule is now online. By popular demand, it includes the return of the much loved Route 66 (2/29) and South Los Angeles (1/25) California Culture tours. Plus The Lowdown on Downtown (1/18), and for this date we're adding a rare chance to see the unique Ernest Batchelder tiles in a non-public part of Angel City Brewery, illustrating the Roebling family's steel rope innovations, used to build the Brooklyn Bridge. We hope you'll join us for one or more of these immersive architecture and history excursions. Get a group together and save when you ride with a 12-pack.
Now read on for some red hot historic and cultural preservation news you won't read anywhere else. It's a City Hall scoop!
Last week's Los Angeles Times building redevelopment hearing was a last ditch opportunity for concerned Angelenos to step up to the mic and implore the planning department to preserve a landmark by opposing the demolition requested by a developer enmeshed in Councilman Jose Huizar's ongoing FBI investigation. The appearance of quid pro quo vote buying in Onni Group's enormous Civic Center project is deeply troubling.
While we didn't have much hope that the building could be saved, we were there to testify, and shoot video of the many thoughtful and passionate public comments made for the benefit of those who couldn't attend. Disappointingly, not a single journalist was there to cover the saga of this enormous project right across from City Hall—despite the ongoing FBI investigation, despite the unprecedented political rewriting of the landmark designation for the developer's benefit, despite the fact that the building threatened with demolition is the historic home of the Los Angeles Times.
So it was left to your pals from Esotouric to pay attention to city staff's mention of having received a long and concerning letter that very morning, which they suggested was the reason they didn't vote on the project at the hearing's conclusion... to request a copy of that letter... and to break the huge news that SAFER, a deep-pocketed California public benefit corporation, is challenging the Times Mirror Square project EIR from every direction: traffic, pollution, historic preservation and wildlife protection.
If what SAFER's expert consultants say in their fascinating and thorough letter is true, L.A. city planners are prepared to sign off on an enormous project that ought not to be built. And we should all be concerned about a city where citizens have to yell, and nonprofits have to sue, all in the desperate attempt to get elected and appointed officials to behave lawfully. Do you think things might be different if the fourth estate was in the room reporting? (Checks Waze for morning drive time from El Segundo to City Hall.)
What brought us here? We spearheaded the landmark application for the L.A. Times buildings as part of a larger campaign, raising consciousness about William L. Pereira's endangered civic and commercial architecture. His buildings are threatened all across the Southland, none in greater peril than the 1965 LACMA campus, threatened with demolition that could begin at any time.
We've just started a new chapter in our Pereira in Peril work, with the launch of Save LACMA (http://www.ourlacma.org), a nonprofit formed to amplify the community's voice to help steer the museum’s future, not just with the hugely unpopular Zumthor building project, but in all its change and growth to come. The more we learned about LACMA’s destructive building plans, the more we felt the need to advocate not just for the historic campus, but for the survival of the museum as an institution. We proudly join with other concerned Angelenos to volunteer our time as Save LACMA board members, and look forward to meeting you at LACMA-focused events in the near future. For now, we hope you’ll visit the website to learn more, and share this exciting news with your arts loving friends. It's going to be a campaign to remember, and we can't wait to share it with you!
WANT TO SUPPORT OUR WORK?
If you enjoy all we do to celebrate and preserve Los Angeles history and would like to say thank you, please consider putting a little something into our digital tip jar. You can also click here before shopping on Amazon. Your contributions are never obligatory, but always appreciated. Or you can join us for a tour... & tell your friends.
AND WHAT'S THE NEXT TOUR?
Saturday's excursion is The Real Black Dahlia, following in the footsteps of the troubled Beth Short in the months and days before her mysterious murder. We're sold out with a waiting list, and the tour repeats January 4. Next Saturday, it's Weird West Adams, with a very special stop at a landmark Moorish mansion. Join us, do!
UPCOMING TOURS & SPECIAL EVENTS
THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA - SAT. 10/26... Join us on this iconic, unsolved Los Angeles murder mystery tour, from the throbbing boulevards of a postwar Downtown to the quiet suburban avenue where horror came calling. After multiple revisions, this is less a true crime tour than a social history of 1940s Hollywood female culture, mass media and madness. (Sold out with waiting list. Repeats 1/4.)
WEIRD WEST ADAMS - SAT. 11/2... On this guided tour through the Beverly Hills of the early 20th Century, you'll thrill as Jazz Age bootleggers run amok, marvel at the Krazy Kafitz family's litany of criminal misbehavior, visit the shortest street in Los Angeles with its magnificent views of the mansions of Alvarado Terrace and stroll the haunted paths of Rosedale Cemetery. Featured players include the most famous dwarf in Hollywood, mass suicide ringleader Reverend Jim Jones, wacky millionaires who can't control their automobiles, human mole bank robbers, comically inept fumigators, kids trapped in tar pits, and other unusual and fascinating denizens of early Los Angeles. Plus, a very special bonus: preservation-minded Angelenos have invited us to tour their landmark Moorish mansion! (Buy tickets here.)
PASADENA CONFIDENTIAL - SAT. 11/23... The Crown City masquerades as a calm and refined retreat, where well-bred ladies glide around their perfect bungalows and everyone knows what fork to use first. But don't be fooled by appearances. Dip into the confidential files of old Pasadena and meet assassins and oddballs, kidnappers and slashers, black magicians and all manner of maniac in a delightful little tour you won't find recommended by the better class of people. (Buy tickets here.)
RICHARD'S BIRTHDAY TOUR - SAT. 11/30... An all-day cultural history and architecture-themed excursion that will never be repeated, which we're calling Lucky When You Live in California. (Almost sold out! More info here.)
HOTEL HORRORS & MAIN STREET VICE - SAT. 12/7... Through the 1940s, downtown was the true city center, a lively, densely populated, exciting and sometimes dangerous place. But while many of the historic buildings remain, their human context has been lost. This downtown double feature tour is meant to bring alive the old ghosts and memories that cling to the streets and structures of the historic core, and is especially recommended for downtown residents curious about their neighborhood's neglected history. (Buy tickets here.)
FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR - SUN. 1/5... Four times a year, we gather in the teaching crime labs of Cal State L.A. to explore the history and future of American forensic science. Just announced and already almost sold out, Detective Story: The Hillside Strangler takes us deep inside a major serial killer investigation with Retired Sergeant Frank Salerno, who worked the case. Your ticket benefits graduate level Criminalistics research. (Almost sold out! More info here.)
We offer private versions of most of our tours (up to 55 people), and Downtown L.A. walking tours for smaller groups. Does your L.A.-area library, club or historical society host guest speakers? Ask them to book us.
More Los Angeles-centric book recommendations here.
AND FINALLY, LINKS
Good Los Angeles buildings are being demolished at a fever pace. RIP Los Angeles hipped us to something pretty and doomed, so we visisted and found a captivating oasis. The replacement might not be this bad, but then again it might.
West Hollywood citizens horrified by proposed Morphosis replacement for Viper Room.
A visit to Rancho Los Encinos, where the Garnier family's good times are about to crumble as the wee sheep bleat the alarm.
With a two-week booking of The Irishman, the American Cinematheque reneges on its claim that Netflix would only use the Egyptian Theatre during the week and leave Friday-Sunday for the the non-profit’s calendar.
Gamble House frees itself from USC oversight in the aftermath of the university's scandalous neglect of Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House (oddly not mentioned in this story).
A preview of Susan A. Phillips' important new monograph, The City Beneath: A Century of Los Angeles Graffiti. We were honored she shared JK's Tunnel so it could be made accessible as a 3-D scan. (Pre-order the book here.)
We don't care for zillionaires as a rule, but we do approve of those like Ron Burkle, who spare no expense restoring deteriorating masterpieces like Ennis House.
The Times asked us to weigh in on why L.A. is the perpetual dark heart of crime writing: “We’re drawn to the feral qualities of the grasping, amoral Angelenos who populate classic L.A. noir...”
Bittersweet to read about the forthcoming auction of objects from Bob Winter's estate. Here are the fireplace tools and Batchelder peacock jardiniere, in situ on a last visit to see our friend and teacher.
The daffy tale of how Bar-B-Q became The Postman Always Rings Twice is a favorite one featured on our occasional James M. Cain Birth of Noir tours.
In Hancock Park, despite a stop work order and landmark designation spearheaded by Councilman Paul Koretz, property owners knocked down a lovely 1920s Tudor gem. Neighbors choking on Batchelder tile dust and rage.
This is heartbreaking. Giichi Matsumura may be coming home at last.
An update on L.A. County’s landmark nomination to save Alpine Village from demolition. Friday’s hearing may save this cool place!
A very special screening at LAPL Central as Rick Prelinger Presents Lost Landscapes: Los Angeles. This time travel trip will leave you gasping.
L.A. Conservancy Action Alert: Help Stop Demolition of Downey's Rancho Los Amigos. This campus is rich with history, good works and vast potential, and deserves a better plan.
They say a fish rots from the head. Hold your nose and read the bombshell court filing on how a far-reaching conspiracy of L.A. insiders kept the Skid Row community from forming their desperately needed neighborhood council. Mailchimp tracking software got 'em!
