Serving San Diego’s Premier Urban Communities for 21 Years sdnorthparknews.com
NORTH PARK SCENE
Vol. 21 No. 2 February 2013
SAN DIEGO’S Hip Neighborhoods
Community Corner Vol. VII: CAN THANK How the city builds things
Bud Fischer The late real estate icon helped guide the rebirth of North Park
BY OMAR PASSONS
Our city has a few ways to build new physical infrastructure (e.g. roads, fire stations and libraries). The primary system for paying for these types of infrastructure is through the Capital Improvement Program, often just called the CIP. This is a very complicated process but it’s really important because it impacts the physical environment that we as citizens have for going to the park, getting
BY TOM SHESS
Bud Fischer at the Layfayette Hotel in this mid-’90s photo
On Jan. 24, Arnold “Bud” Fischer one of the important figures in helping North Park emerge from being a blighted neighborhood into one of the hippest neighborhoods in America, succumbed to lung disease. He was 80. Bud Fischer was also one of the first developers to invest in historic neighborhoods like North Park and the Gaslamp Quarter, when both areas had seen better days. He was a keen businessman who had a knack for seeing the big picture. His real estate deals in the Gaslamp
and North Park paved the way for others to jump on board. He started the fiscal parade toward better days. In North Park, the community is a success because of two significant projects that he undertook. Both were historic properties. Lafayette Hotel In the mid-’90s, one of Fischer’s partnerships purchased the bankrupt Lafayette Hotel for $2.125 million in 1995 and invested $2.5 million more in renovations to the historic property. By February 1999, the refurbished hotel celebrated a grand reopening.
Today, the hotel (back to being called the Lafayette) is a hotspot for lodging, dining, live jazz venues just like it was after its original grand opening on July 1, 1946. North Park Theatre Fischer succeeded in his goal to rehabilitate the 1928 North Park Vaudeville Theatre into a commercial success. In the early 2000’s, he faced more reasons not to support the project than positives. But Fischer saw the big picture. He knew that if the historic theater was going to be able to support itself, it had to include viable tenants and provide places to park for those
SEE SCENE, Page 5
SEE FISCHER, Page 6
Alice In Wonderland Mural Discovered On SDSU Campus BY ANGELA CARONE | ARTS AND CULTURE REPORTER, KPBS
The Birch kicks off it’s 2013 season with CHICAGO, opening February 15th See more on Page 16
Archeologists often have to be great detectives. A professor at San Diego State has used his detective skills to find hidden historic murals on the university’s campus. KPBS culture reporter Angela Carone says he’s discovered a new one, featuring a beloved character from children’s literature. Hardy Tower is one of the oldest buildings on the campus of San Diego State University. It has a bell tower and its Spanish revival style architecture stands apart from newer campus construction. SDSU professor Seth Mallios has been on a mission to find SEE MURAL, Page 10
Albert J. Lewis painted the Alice in Wonderland mural when he was an art student at SDSU. He’s now 88 years old and lives in San Diego with a caretaker. Photo: Mary Jane Conlan.
A low-res photo taken before the Alice in Wonderland mural was painted over in the 1980s. Photo: Evelyn Kooperman.