THAT’S FROM DISNEYLAND! CHARLES PHOENIX: KING OF KITSCH THE GREAT RED CAR CONSPIRACY
6...... Letter from the Editor
Alison Martino, Editor in Chief
7....... By the Numbers
Historic Cultural Monuments of LA
8...... Review: Googie LA Mid Century Modern Architecture 10..... Charles Phoenix: King of Kitsch Interview with LA native and Kitsch Enthusiast
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14..... That’s From Disneyland! Nicholas Craft’s Pop-Up Exhibit 20.... ConservAngelests Editorial on Keeping DTLA Historic 26.... Top Ten: Tiki Bars of LA From Disneyland to Catalina Island 28.... The Great Red Car Conspiracy How the Pacific Electric Railway Failed
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Letter from the Editor Especially observant readers of this magazine (there must be a few) might note that they’ve seen the cover of this magazine before, and indeed they have, on the debut issue of New York, dated April 8, 1968. The only difference is that here the Manhattan skyline is rendered in metallic silver, rather than in the original four colors. (The photographer, Jay Maisel, happens to be the inhabitant of “The 72-Room Bohemian Dream House” that we featured in last week’s issue, but that’s another story.) Anniversaries are celebrated with numbing regularity by magazines, including, obviously, this one. But we hope we’ve at least departed from this solipsistic tradition by looking outward rather than in, focusing on the tumultuous period with which the magazine’s life span has coincided. Drawing the borders of history is, to some degree, arbitrary, but it’s safe to say that these last 40 years have marked an era of unusual change in New York. The modern city was, in short, reborn. Many of the bones remain in place— the buildings, the bridges, even old Yankee Stadium isn’t quite gone yet—but nearly everything else about the place has changed. You need only flip through the opening essay and the accompanying iconic photographs to see how different the city looked and felt back then. How in the world did we get from there to here?In selecting what to feature in this issue, we relied on the New York Magazine tradition of constantly shifting lenses and tools. Enjoy this new issue of VLA!
Alison Martino Editor in Chief
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By the Numbers There are
135
Historic Cultural Monuments in Downtown LA
12
Theaters
11
17
Beaux-Arts Buildings
11
Structures Built Before 1900
Art Deco Buildings
6Churches 4
Buildings Destroyed by Fire
3
Classical Revival Buildings
1
Cemetery
los angel e s
6
Gothic Inspired Buildings
5
Hotels
3
Victorian Styled Buildings
1
Funicular
Editor in Chief Alison Martino
Contributing Editor Andrew Zimmern
Creative Director Brian Johnson
Contributingt Fashion Editor Elizabeth Doyle
Executive Editor Sara Elbert Deputy Editor Jennifer Buege
Contributing Bookings Editors Allison Oleskey, Chelsea Yin, SHO & Company, Inc.
Senior Editor Dana Raidt
Senior Copy Editor Jean Marie Hamilton
Senior Writer Sydney Berry
Spanish Editor/Translator Edgar Rojas
Editorial Interns Sabrina Badola, Rachel Guyah, Colin Miller Art Directors Amy Ballinger, Ted Rossiter Digital Prepress Group Seve Mathewson, Bill Sympson Director of Project Management Frank Sisser Production Manager Jonathan Bernson
Director of Circulation Bea Jaegar Circulation Manager Carin Russell Circulation Assistant Anna Buresh Chief Marketing Officer Tim Mapes Director, U.S. Marketing Communications Julieta McDurry
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review
5 of Los Angeles’ Best Mid Century Architecture
76 Gas Station in Beverly Hills Designed by Gin Wong | 1965 Gin Wong, who later became president of William L. Pereira & Associates, designed the station to look different from every angle and has had several brushes with fame. Brit rocker Noel Gallagher used it as a backdrop for the cover of his album High Flying Birds. It was also referenced in the movie
Shampoo and featured in L.A. Story with Steve Martin. LAX wanted the gas station on its property, near the entrance/exit off the main terminal, and the inspiration came from the airport itself. LAX realized there would be 60 to 70 million people traveling through the city tofill them up right there.
Bob’s Big Boy Broiler in Downey Designed by Paul B. Clayton | 1958 This project was the winner the prestigious Presidents Award for historic preservation from the Los Angeles Conservancy. The Bob’s Big Boy property was once home to Harvey’s Broiler and then Johnie’s Broiler, two Downey drive-in/diner institutions. The original building for the Broiler, as it is called, was one of the best examples of the Googie-style midcentury modern architecture. This building has been unanimously nominated to the California Register of Historic Places. In 2007, the former Harvey’s and Johnies Broiler building was almost completely demolished without a building permit or legally-required environmental clearance. The City of Downey partnered with a
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Pann’s Diner in Ladera Heights Designed by Helen Liu Fong | 1958 Fong, who was the designer for the Holiday Bowl, Johnie’s coffee shop, and the original Norms Restaurant, included tropical landscaping in the design, and was part of the firm of Armet & Davis that one commentator refers to as “the Frank Lloyd Wright of 1950s coffee shops.” In Jim Poulos. Ed Begley, Jr. told a story about running into César Chávez at Pann’s in the 1980s. Pann’s was featured in a story in the Los Angeles Times, “Going on a hunt for Googie architecture,” which noted the restaurant’s tilted roof and sign, tropical plants and exposed stone walls indoors and out, and glass windows wrapping around the restaurant. Pann’s celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008.
McDonald’s in Downey Designed by Stanley Clark | 1953 The oldest operating McDonald’s, this building was the third restaurant franchised by Richard and Maurice McDonald, who founded the chain in 1948. The Downey restaurant, then, is the fourth oldest McDonald’s but remains the oldest still standing today. At the original walk-up hamburger stand in San Bernardino, only the original sign remains.
The Theme Building at LAX Designed by Gin Wong | 1961 It was designed as part of a major postwar expansion of the airport and represents the scaled-down version of an original vision in which an enormous glass dome served as the central hub for the terminal buildings and parking structures. Both the original and revised designs were spearheaded by architectural firm Pereira and Luckman, well known for its master plans as well as institutional buildings both public and private. The Theme Building features a UFO-like restaurant suspended from the center of two massive crossed arches of stucco-covered steel. A screen wall of decorative concrete block surrounds the building, adding another Mid-Century Modern touch.
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CHARLES OF
The Historian Discusses His Retro Knack by Jeremy Oberstein
C
harles Phoenix, at 45 years old, has achieved a sort of legendary status in Southern California and beyond. Though he is well known for his Disneyland tours of Los Angeles, Phoenix has toured this country in search of the kitschiest cities and most vibrant offenders of class.
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Jeremy Oberstein
His travels have brought him to Tulsa, Portland and Denver, which he calls the most kitschy city in the nation. But he calls Silver Lake home and has devoted extensive hours to documenting the history of Los Angeles and its environs in the most unique way one can. On Jan 18, Phoenix is slated to host the 32nd Doo Dah Parade in Pasadena, a wacky take on the annual Tournament of Roses Parade where costumes are encouraged and tortillas are thrown to show gratitude. We started our conversation talking about the parade.
Why did you accept the invitation to lead the Doo Dah Parade? I figured it was a logical stepping stone to my ultimate goal in life, which is to be the Grand Marshall of the Rose Parade.
What happens after you become Grand Marshall? What’s next? That’s a good question. I guess my life - I guess I can just do nothing. No, seriously, I am really, really interested in the history and tradition of the Rose Parade. I think it’s so underrated. It’s an incredibly detailed crafts project; each float is a floral craft’s
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project, I just think they are amazing. I’m excited to be in the Doo Dah Parade so I can get closer to the Rose Parade.
I imagine the Doo Dah Parade and, to a greater extent the Rose Parade have to appeal to your sense of history. Yes, definitely. The Rose Parade is both classic and kitsch; they don’t know how kitschy it is I don’t think and the Doo Dah Parade is obviously nothing but kitsch and a weird oddball spectacle. I didn’t tell the organizers of the Doo Dah Parade this, but I’ve only seen it once, though I have an idea what it’s like.
How did that collaboration between you and the Doo Dah organizers come about? The organizers of the parade have known of my work for a while and Ive been in touch with them several times about things but we never did do anything together. So, finally, when I guess they needed to find somebody to be the Grand Marshall, they said, Well, let’s just get him. They called me and I’m really excited to plan my rig going down the street. I’m hoping for quite a little procession.
What will that procession look like? I immediately thought, I need a classic mid-century car pulling a classic mid-century trailer. That’s the core of my rig, of my part of the parade. I called my friend who has a classic trailer and also has a classic car, which happens to be pretty interesting - a 1964 Ford station wagon that was special ordered by the fire department, so it’s red with sirens on top. It’ like a Fire Marshall’s car. So, I’m going to be standing on top of that. We’re trying to get the Dalmatian Club to walk their Dalmatian’s in front of the fire house station wagon pulling a trailer and we are probably going to have a bunch of skaters from the Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale. We’re also hoping to have the Glendora Scott’s, which is a radically themed Scottish themed marching band with bagpipes and everything. I’m not sure the status of all of these, but I know the 1964 red station wagon with the sirens on top, that is for sure.
This sounds fantastical and totally kitschy, much like your approach to tours and to a
certain extent slides. But one of the things I was struck by when I met you and took your tour was your serious love of history and Los Angeles. Talk about that dichotomy. Thank you for bringing that up. Here’s my situation: The core of all of my schtick is all from the heart and all from the passion of my interest in not only local culture but American culture. Period. And I think that if I’m going to show you slides, or take you on a tour or take you on a parade, it’s gotta come from the heart. It’s gotta be made with love. The other thing is, it’s gotta be entertaining, it’s gotta be theatrical. My thing is truth in theater. That’s my schtick. I’m telling you the truth - I’m very enthusiastic because I love what I’m sharing with you, otherwise I wouldn’t be sharing it with you. Enthusiasm is my theater. It’s true and honest and I genuinely revere the things I am sharing with you.
You’ve taken your show on the road many times. You’ve been to Tulsa and Denver among other places. What city or state would you say is the most “American” or kitschy? Well, Southern California aside, since Southern California to me is it’s own universe. You could compare it nothing. No place else on Earth is like Southern California. But when you get outside of Southern California? Definitely Denver is the kitsch capital of the United States. Never mind the rest of Colorado, but when you get to Denver it’s one radically themed environment after another starting with Casa Bonita, that giant Mexican restaurant. It’s a kitsch fest of the highest order. It’s a restaurant desperately trying to be a theme park. The other part that I love about it so much is that it was built in 1974 and they have touched nothing. It is a time warp.
So shag décor and wood panels on the wall?
Jeremy Oberstein
It’s much more costumed than that. It’s several themed, eight or so themed dining rooms on two floors basically in a horseshoe themed pattern overlooking the focal point of the entire restaurant, which is a cliff with waterfalls. They have cliff divers come out and girls with bikinis come out and push a guy
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with a gorilla suit in the water. It’s just completely absurd. People in Denver are like, my God, they have the worst Mexican food and, I mean, if you don’t like melted Velveeta over everything don’t go there. But people don’t go there for the experience. Cliff diver at Casa Bonita, not from Charles Phoenix.
The interior, with its theme and cliffs, sort of reminds me of Clifton’s Cafeteria which hasn’t changed in like 70 years. Yeah, it’s very much the Clifton’s of Colorado. Our Clifton’s, in Downtown L.A. Is such an underrated landmark of Los Angeles, It’s a cultural institution of the absolute highest order. It’s from 1935, it is virtually - the essence of it is exactly as it was in 1935, I mean not exactly but it’s as close as it can possibly be. It is a living museum of it’s own self. The food presentation of Clifton’s is practically an art installation that happens every single day.
What other cities are you looking to tour?
We’ve spoken in the past about your love of the San Fernando Valley. What about a tour there? Yeah, I’m a big fan of the San Fernando Valley but I don’t really see a tour, per se, there. I’m just glad for the valley that the stigma of - oooh, the valley has completely faded from our opinion landscape. Remember the ‘80s when everybody bad mouthed the valley? It’s like 15 minutes from the big bad city. What are you complaining about?
What do you look for when selecting slides? I look for something unusual. I look for an unusual combination of elements. I look for, you know, something that says something. It has to be unique,
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Jeremy Oberstein
I’m going to be doing a tour of Pasadena in the spring. Actually, it’s Pasadena, Alta Dena and San Mareno. Im calling it the Dena, Dena, Reno tour. My big challenge with the Pasadena tour is that there is absolutely no giant, road house restaurant to bring 50 people to that can be served quickly. there has to be a reason to show a slide, to share a slide. We don’t just want to see the normal person standing in front of the Grand Canyon. It has to be almost falling in or wearing something completely bizarre. It’s sort of hard to put my finger on it. There just has to be something extreme, something memorable. My goal is basically an image that is memorable, that is worth talking about. A slide has to tell a story or inspire a story or inspire a question.
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That’s From
How A Collector’s Pop-Up Became
A Must-See
Los Angeles Destination by Chris Willman
D
uring the summer, Disneyland buffs found the true Happiest
Melted Snow White, originally from 1970’s, melted while in storage
Place on Earth, which happened
to be an abandoned Sports Authority in Sherman Oaks. There, two- to three-hour lines stretched down the block as hopefuls tried to get into “That’s From Disneyland!,” a free, 20,000-square-foot exhibit devoted to artifacts collected over the past 25 years by agent-to-the-film-composer-stars Richard Kraft, who auctioned off every last piece by the time the pop-up came to a close on August 27th. During the summer, Disneyland buffs found the true Happiest Place on Earth, which happened to be an abandoned Sports Authority in Sherman Oaks. There, two- to three-hour lines stretched down the block as hopefuls tried to get into “That’s From Disneyland!,” a free, 20,000-square-foot exhibit devoted to artifacts collected over the past 25 years by agent-to-the-film-composer-stars Richard Kraft, who auctioned off every last piece by the time the pop-up came to a close on August 27th. It does resemble that other happy place down in Anaheim in that celebrities do generally get to skip the queue. Anyone who believes celebrities are all going to hell can find photographic confirmation in the photos posted online of Rachel Bloom and Rebel Wilson posing in a car from the now-defunct Orlando version of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Magic men Darren Criss and Neil Patrick Harris have taken advantage of a photo op in front of a quartet of eightfoot-tall paintings of impending death scenarios that once resided in the Haunted Mansion’s stretchy vestibule.
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“We thought, we can’t display this. But then to have fun with it I started making a bunch of memes on Instagram of her, and suddenly she became the thing to see.”
Up the inoperative superstore escalator, out of public view, we find Slash, the Guns N’ Roses guitarist, and his girlfriend, Meegan Hodges, peppering Kraft with questions, not because they’re looking for representation but because they’re fascinated to have finally found someone who loves Disneyland even more than they do. These Club 33 members already own some posters of the park’s original attractions and are looking to add to their collection. “I am a diehard,” Slash says, citing his favorite attractions as “a toss-up between the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean — I’ll do everything else in the park to get to those two.” (And you thought he’d pick the Jungle Cruise.) “I wish I’d met you sooner,” he tells Kraft, maybe cognizant that some of the bigger-ticket items in the auction may be tough bids even on a rock star’s salary. Nicholas Kraft, Richard’s 28-year-old son, aka Nicky, says they’re focusing on this as a one-anddone museum, first and foremost. “Drew Carey was going through and he was like, ‘I really want the Dumbo [ride car],’ and it was the first moment where I realized it hadn’t occurred to me that the Dumbo that floated over the living room of my childhood was going to be in someone else’s home. Richard and I have been completely checked out of the auction part of it. To us, we’re having a farewell party with 50,000 guests.” Only now can they arrive at that guestimate. ”None of us have ever done this sort of thing before, so when in the first week 10,000 people showed up, we thought. ‘Are those the 10,000 hardcore Disney people who care and then week two it’s going to go quiet?’ But week two it was 10,000 more people.” It was the son’s idea to collaborate with the Van Eaton Galleries on a less auction-esque, more fan-friendly exhibit with Instagram photo ops and memes, “to feel more like we’re sharing it and not just showcasing it behind glass. It feels like we’re having people over to the house again.”
Adds Richard: “I was never fussy about the stuff. It was always like, if I’m gonna have a Sky Bucket in the backyard, let people get in the Sky Bucket. So we didn’t want to put everything behind ropes here. One of the huge requirements was, I said we can only do this if it’s free. And there are two reasons. One is, I’ve just been waiting for the Disney lawyer to come down and put me in jail. And not the Pirates of the Caribbean jail — although I have a relationship with that dog, and he’d give me the keys. But selling tickets would have felt creepy on every level, when I didn’t charge people to come and sit in my Mr. Toad car when it was in my house.” Slash, like many, has a hard time believing this is an “everything must go” fire sale. “Aren’t you holding onto anything?” he asks. “Nothing,” says Richard. “The Daily Mail called me… was it a lunatic? And they’re right.” (It was actually just “fanatic,” but no matter.) “Personally, I like letting go of being defined by this. I’ve been a talent agent and loving it for over three decades, and in more recent years, I’m starting to add to that description” —he’s started producing and directing all-star Hollywood Bowl film/concert events, including “Beauty and the Beast” and “Little Mermaid” shows. “And one of my other personas was Eccentric Collector, and I’m kind of bored being that guy.”
above: “Dumbo The Flying Elephant” attraction vehicle,1960’s left: “It’s A Small World” Clock Figure, 1970-1990’s
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He lays out for Slash the sentimental root of the hoarding, as a way of reattaching to a deceased family member. His older brother, David, who would go on to become an Emmy-winning KTLA news director, suffered from Crohn’s disease, and family trips from Bakersfield to Anaheim happened only when he was on the upswing. Following David’s death in 1993, “I was really despondent and just found myself instinctually driving to Disneyland,” he says, “going down Main Street, knowing this is the same sidewalk I walked on with my brother, and even the smell of the Pirates of the Caribbean water or the feel of the lacquered hand rails made me remember these trips with my brother.” Soon he decided to pick up a souvenir — a vintage poster for the Autopia ride — and it was a fast, slippery slope from that to needing every attraction poster ever designed. The birth of his son accelerated the mania. “I used him as my alibi to buy stuff,” Richard says. “I could justify it: ‘Oh, this tiki bird would look good in Nicky’s room.’” Dumbo’s eight-foot wingspan was no good at their house, so they got a new one where he could be hoisted through wide-open second-story windows. (“For a brief moment, Dumbo soared again,” Nicky says, “and he had that big, jolly grin, outside of a Tudor home in Encino.”) The new pool was as much as anything else a backdrop to display a 48-foot-long sea serpent rescued from the Submarine Voyage ride. For Nicky, “The chair in my room where I would watch TV and play video games just happened to be an Astro Jet.” Richard and his brother David had grown up as Bakersfield’s unlikeliest film-music nerds, looking up famous Hollywood composers in the phone book and having their parents drive them to L.A. so they could interview the likes of Elmer Bernstein for their Xeroxed fanzine… as pre-teens, no less. It was an inevitable turn when Kraft, working as a go-fer at Cannon Films in the ‘80s, convinced the scrappy studio to let him start a music department,
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“And one of my other personas was Eccentric Collector, and I’m kind of bored being that guy.” eventually leading to a career as an agent where Danny Elfman became his first client and “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” his first deal. Now Kraft-Engel is one of the foremost music agencies, with Richard, the most fannish and least Ari Gold-like of all agents, “in nerd nirvana, as I’m making deals for Jerry Goldsmith to score [California Adventure’s] Soarin’ Over California. I get to represent Alan Menken, the renaissance man of Disney music. He came to my house and looked around and goes, ‘Am I gonna end up in a Lucite case?’ I go, ‘Probably.’” And then, he says, “Nicky had the nerve — and this pisses me off — to grow up.” (Nicholas: “One of us had to.”) “The empty nest syndrome was just sad. So five years ago I put everything in storage and moved to a house that did not have one lick of Disney. And then, M. Night Shyamalan would not come up with a better plot twist. I became an old dad four years ago, (fathering) Daisy, a girl with special needs. For her, it’s all about experiences. The first two years of her life, she would only pay attention to things right in front of her — and then the first time we went on Small World, she stood up and started tracking everything around her. The theory of a friend of mine is that she looks like a character on Small World, so maybe she thinks she landed on her home planet. She does not care that I own It’s a Small World figures. She cares about going on It’s a Small World. “And I had a giant keelboat that’s 40 feet long that my only real relationship to is paying $750 a month to store it in a warehouse. I thought I should let this
left: “Jose” Prop from The Enchanted Tiki Room, 1960-1970’s below: “Mr Toad’s Wild Ride” attraction vehicle, 1980’s bottom left: “Rocket Jets” attraction vehicle from 1967
The Van Eaton Galleries have had several Disney related auctions in the past years, including “Remembering Disneyland” in December 2017, “Walt Disney’s Disneyland” in June 2017, and “Souvenirs of Disneyland” in November 2016.
In addition to their DIsney auctions, the Van Eaton Galleries are free and encourage people to peruse their large collection of animation cels and drawings.
go, let somebody else who has grandiose plans for the keel boat enjoy it, and let some of this money go to something that’s of value.” He’s donating an unspecified portion of the proceeds to two charities associated with his daughter Daisy’s disorder, Coffin-Siris Syndrome. The upstairs theater space that was created for the weekend auction also got put to use for events throughout the month, from puppetry and live animal drawing classes for kids during the day to a benefit Alan Menken concert that will take place Friday night. A week after Slash’s visit, a musician from a different era comes in for a tour: Richard Sherman, Kraft’s client and the co-composer of most of Disneyland’s most famous original music (along with the “Mary Poppins” songs). He asks the same question as the newbies to Kraft’s world: “Is this all yours?” Every few yards, there is something with a Sherman connection. “I know this guy!” he says, spotting a Winnie the Pooh (yes, he wrote that one, too). He stops by the Small World figurines — which Nicky says his dad bought from somebody in a Frye’s parking lot in the middle of the night — and shares the story of how they had to add a parenthetical “(After All)” to the title to get around a copyright issue with another song of the same title. They stop by the Enchanted Tiki Room section of the exhibit and Sherman, Kraft and the
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CONSERVANGELESTS The Importance of Preserving LA’s History by Amanda Way
S
hould we preserve it, or should we knock it down? Over the last 50 years, this has become a real question in towns and cities across the country. As urban areas continue to grow, and as local leaders increasingly embrace the historic buildings that communities were built around, it often falls to design boards or commissions—and the architects who populate them—to decide what stays and what goes.
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Construction at Clifton’s in 2015, one year before it was reopened to the public. Los Angeles boasts one of the country’s first preservation committees; the city passed the Cultural Heritage Ordinance in 1962, which led to today’s Cultural Heritage Commission. It is currently made up of five commissioners, four with ties to architecture: two architects, the president of an architectural firm, and an architectural historian. Their job is to review buildings based on a specific set of questions: Does it stand out architecturally? Was the architect or designer a master in his or her field? Was the property ever associated with anyone historic? And, finally, does it represent a broader social history? If one or more of the above returns a “yes,” answer, the building is likely to be declared a monument and preserved accordingly. But even a negative response doesn’t mean the building is tapped for destruction.
also gives the commission partial oversight of the property to ensure no “character-defining features” are modified by overeager owners. And there are consequences for unapproved actions, even if your building itself isn’t declared a monument.
“We don’t decide if something gets demolished or not,” says Gail Kennard, commission member and president of Kennard Design Group. “We accept applications from property owners and other interested individuals and groups, and then we deal with the merits of the building. Even if we deny a request for designation, that doesn’t mean we think it should be torn down.”
Of course, not every preservation decision is a matter for the local government. Barry Milofsky, a commission member and founding partner of M2A Architects, has worked in preservation for decades. He recalls one instance where design-centric recommendations couldn’t convince the owners to save the backdrop for one of our country’s most shocking moments.
Being declared a monument means your building is deemed relevant to LA’s history and social fabric. But it
“We were hired to explore reuse options versus demolition options for the Ambassador Hotel,” he says, “and we
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“If you own in what we call a ‘historic preservation overlay zone,’ and the property is considered a contributor to the zone, if you alter your house in any significant way or demolish it,” Kennard says, “you could face severe repercussions.” Those include a “scorched earth punishment” wherein owners who are investigated and deemed negligent or detrimental to a protected building are barred from any transactions related to their property for five years.
informed the clients that it could indeed be preserved.” The commission provided options for the owners, including adapting it into a high school or market-rate workforce housing, all while preserving Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination site and other rooms with deep ties to Hollywood history. The owners passed. “It’s their building,” he says. “If the community steps up and exerts power or pressure, it can make a difference. But it begs the question: Is it the job of the owners to pursue their specific needs, or do they have a larger responsibility to society in general?”
The Queen City Burlington, Vt., adopted regulations to protect historic buildings in 1973. Its leaders have a keen awareness that, as a New England city organized in 1785, they are stewards of many significant structures that define the country’s past.
Reflection of Victor Clothing Company from the doors of the Bradbury Building.
“While the history of Los Angeles stretches back to before the Civil War, because so much of its growth happened in the post-war years, much of its architectural heritage dates from the 20th century.”
“Historic architecture makes us who we are as a community,” says David White, the city’s director of planning and zoning, “and that’s not just Burlington.” This sentiment is shared by many residents, though some vocalize frustrations that anything notable has also been deemed irremovable. But White reinforces that this isn’t the case: “While it is not our preference to tear buildings down, we do recognize that sometimes that is the appropriate choice, and we want there to be clarity around the process.” As with many burgeoning cities and towns, Burlington is dealing with issues of housing affordability and availability. When it becomes a direct one-to-one comparison— such as preserving a historic structure versus building additional housing units—White notes that the members of the city’s Design Advisory Board have to ask themselves a series of important questions. “There are subjective questions like, ‘Does the existing building have true historic value?’” he says. “But beyond that, ‘Is the building structurally sound?’ ‘Can it be moved to another site?’ ‘What is the cost of tearing it down or remediating the site?’ And, at the end of the day, ‘Will whatever replaces this building compensate the community in some capacity?’ And ‘Will it serve a higher and better use?’”
History’s Real Value In Charlottesville, Va., another city with a rich history, what to raze and what to preserve is frequently discussed as well. Mary Joy Scala, who served as the city’s preservation and design planner for 14 years, has seen architects recommend protecting buildings for a bevy of reasons. “Older buildings were built to last a lifetime, not 20 years,” she says, “and anyone interested in sustainable design knows that it is often better to reuse in some capacity than to discard it all in a landfill.” She references a neighborhood called Vinegar Hill that was destroyed in the early 1960s, noting that “people are still, rightly, talking about that. They’re asking, ‘Why did that neighborhood that belonged to us get torn down?’”
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It’s not as if the city wants to forgo modernity entirely. “Some localities do want their new buildings to look like the old buildings,” she says, “but when you mix, you get a much more complex and intriguing built environment—especially when the new ones draw on certain specific features of the old.” Scala admits that the city is uniquely positioned to value preservation. Tourism is not only one of Virginia’s major economic drivers, but also one of the Charlottesville region’s major drivers—with historic buildings like Monticello comprising several of the biggest draws, as well as having the University of Virginia School of Architecture (and its highly respected historic preservation program) within city limits. It all adds up to a higher overall level of awareness among locals (and visitors) alike. That said, she also recognizes that architects shouldn’t take this level of appreciation for granted. “It is so important to consider public education and outreach,” she says, “so the people living in and around these buildings understand why preservation matters. You can’t do that through regulation alone. If your fellow citizens can grasp the design thinking and the architectural reasons that fuel your recommendations, they’ll be that much more cooperative.”
Above: Angel’s Flight working in 2017 Below: Hotel Rosslyn in 2015
Milofsky echoes that sentiment. Long interested in preservation professionally, he made that interest well-known and took on volunteer opportunities whenever they arose. “It’s the same way you get clients,” he says. “You don’t sit in your office and wait for someone to ring your doorbell. You have to be active in what matters to you.” By the early 1970s, the downtown Los Angeles skyline was changing drastically. The height restriction imposed on Downtown buildings had been removed, so over the 1950s and 60s, buildings had steadily crept higher. In 1968, the Union Bank Plaza was built as the first true “skyscraper,” followed shortly after by the Crocker Citizens Bank in 1969.
LA in Disrepair Around the same time, the Los Angeles Central Library was falling into disrepair. Built in 1926 by Bertram Goodhue, and an early example of Art Deco architecture, it was one of the iconic cornerstones of the downtown Los Angeles landscape, and was eventually designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument in 1967. Despite its monumental status, there was a growing movement to demolish the site. The issues ranged from “inadequate space” and “outdated electrical and
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mechanical systems” to “deferred maintenance,” and a librarian referred to it as a “filthy fire trap.” In response to the threat of demolition, the Los Angeles Conservancy was founded in 1978. With the library, they certainly had their hands full, within a few years organizing a series of phone campaigns to argue for the preservation of this beloved landmark. A plan for renovation was developed, but before it could be implemented, the impossible happened: an arsonist set a fire inside the Library in 1986, which, fueled by the close quarters of internal stacks, grew to a massive blaze, with temperatures reaching 2000°F. The Fire destroyed 400,000 volumes in the Library’s collection-20% of the total holdings-as well as historic maps, photographs, and more. This set back restoration efforts for years, and the Library finally completed a full renovation and restoration in 1993, over 15 years after the conversations had originally begun. While this was a tragic beginning to a restoration, one of the positive things to emerge was the massive outpouring of public support for the Library, as well as the creation of organizations like the Library Foundation of Los Angeles andthe Los Angeles Preservation Network. It also signaled the beginning of a new area in Los Angeles, where a groundswell of passionate activists would begin to enact change for the historic properties in the city-a mission that continues to this day.
Historically Young
In that way, we have a unique heritage few other cities don’t have. In Los Angeles, our oldest buildings are ones that simply weren’t built in other cities because there wasn’t room, which means we have a deep wealth of Art Deco, Art Moderne, Googie, and Mid-Century Modern structures. The Sheats-Goldstein house below (aka Jackie Treehorn’s house in The Big Lebowski), for example, is an incredible lesson in American Organic Architecture (bet you didn’t even know that was a style!) As a result, preservation in Los Angeles has always been a tricky business. In most cities, the buildings being preserved are 100 years old or more, but as we have a much higher percentage of modern architecture, the focus is different. For one thing, more modern structures are sometimes hard to ignite passion around advocating for their survival. Not everyone is a fan of Brutalism, after all! To further complicate matters, older structures aren’t always up to modern earthquake standards or due to materials used, are sometimes difficult to bring up to code (Rest in Piece, Sixth Street Viaduct). But these are the issues you face when you have a city with such a diverse architectural history as this one. What would LA be without drive-thru restaurants shaped like giant doughnuts? Without Griffith Observatory and the Bonaventure Hotel? I rather like the patchwork quilt of styles that we’ve developed over the years. Give me our strange skyline, our outrageous restaurants, and our Victorian mansions tucked away in the Arroyo Seco. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Los Angeles walks a strange walk between being viewed as a young city, and one that has been around for quite some time. How often have we been told-or joked ourselves-that the city “doesn’t really have a Angel’s Flight Ticket Booth, 2015 history?” While the history of Los Angeles stretches back to before the Civil War, because so much of its growth happened in the post-war years, much of its architectural heritage dates from the 20th century. Even in the 1930s, the WPA guide to Los Angeles argued that “The Los Angeles of the future is likely to evolve around highways,” and commented that the “tendency to spread and sprawl has been more or less unrestrained,” arguing that the reason for the dramatic shift in city planning was due to East Coaster transplants wanting to consciously escape those “dark canyons” of Eastern cities.
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top ten
Best Tiki Bars in Los Angeles Pacific Seas 648 S. Broadway, Downtown. This brand-new bar, on the third floor of Clifton’s downtown, is named after a now-defunct other Clifton’s location, from back when L.A. County was dotted with the whimsical cafeterias. Reached by a hidden staircase (there must be an elevator somewhere, but I haven’t found it), this gorgeous space features actual, and expensive, antiques, and a boat in the middle of the bar that’s mostly used as a DJ station. The sprawling room is in no way a dive, which sets it apart from other L.A. tiki bars, and which means it can take a while to get a drink. (Tiki drinks are complicated!) But you might not notice: There truly is so much to look at here.
Tiki Ti
Tiki No
4427 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake. There’s a lot of Hollywood history packed into this garage (literally, a former garage, and then a violin shop) of a tiki bar. The founder, Ray Buhen, opened Tiki Ti in 1961 after working in a number of bars around town, including Don the Beachcomber, the first tiki bar in the world. The drink menu is huge, featuring just about every concoction that has been considered a tiki drink over the years, including big blended creations from the ‘80s. And though it famously allowed indoor smoking, that changed recently when the Buhens hired their first non-family employee.
4657 Lankershim Blvd, NoHo. Picking up the tiki mantle in North Hollywood, Tiki No continues the grand Polynesian traditions while mixing in nods to younger, modern drinkers. One of the bar’s inventions, the Toasted Marshmallow, combines overproof rum with marshmallow-flavored vodka, a ploy to snag all those flavored vodka-loving millennials out there. The drink is even garnished with a flaming marshmallow. Ordering one is like roasting s’mores in the middle of a luau.
Tonga Hut
221 Richmond St., El Segundo. This LAX-adjacent bar is a bit of a trek (unless you’re coming straight from the airport), but it still attracts tiki geeks from far and wide, who gather for custom rum drinks served in signature purple tiki mugs. Known for the Volcano Bowl (a take on a Scorpion Bowl), the bar is the perfect place to bond with fellow tiki enthusiasts over a flaming punch, though just as many locals have adopted the exotic watering hole as their neighborhood hang—a testament to the bar’s cheap and reliable drinks. The bar even sports a handy guide to tiki evolution in L.A.
12808 Victory Blvd., North Hollywood. Though it’s been open since 1958, Tonga Hut has not always been a tiki bar specifically. I’m so glad the owners eventually decided to go back to its tiki roots, clearly the North Hollywood dive’s true purpose. The extremely dark bar (your eyes will need a minute to adjust) serves the most classic tiki cocktails in town, all made with love and thoughtfulness, as well as a bartender’s menu of new creations. There’s a separate 78-drink menu called the Grog Log — if you can finish the whole thing in one year, you’ll be inducted into the Loyal Order of the Drooling Bastard. .
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Purple Orchid Tiki Lounge
Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar
Lono
1150 W Magic Way, Anaheim. Tiki bars are already boozy playgrounds for adults, but
6611 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. This new nightspot gives you 360-degree tiki feels: It’s got a menu of small bites including Hawaiian-style fried chicken and kung pao ribs, handcrafted drinks that elevate the traditional South Seas classics (such as a mai tai with two types of rum and laced with fresh lime, macadamia nut liqueur and vanilla demerara) and an interior decor that manages to read classy castaway—comfy couches, beautiful wicker and rattan and lush wallpaper and tile treatments.
no one better conjures an exotic dreamland than Disney. Ripped straight from Adventureland in the Anaheim park and plopped into Downtown Disney, Trader Sam’s takes the G-rated Enchanted Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise attractions and drives them straight into R-rated grown-up fun. Disney theatrics, like the erupting volcano, which goes off everytime someone orders the Krakatoa Punch, are even more entertaining with a belly full of rum and fruity mixers, and Enchanted Tiki decorations like the cartoonish, bug-eyed wall masks make for extra joyful decor.
Luau Larry’s 509 Crescent Ave., Avalon. There are only a handful of bars on Catalina, so if you’ve been bar hopping on the isle, chances are you’ve already crossed paths with this tiki party bar, home of the infamous Wiki Wacker, a light rum and brandy concoction that comes with either a bumper sticker or ridiculous straw hat (if you choose the sticker, you’re doing life wrong). While the bar may not aspire to the tiki authenticity of some of the other locations on this list, it does require you actually set sail on the Pacific in order to visit, making it the only true tropical island getaway in the L.A. area.
Duke’s Malibu 21150 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. Located at the water’s edge of the picturesque Pacific Ocean, Duke’s Malibu honors the late Duke Kahanamoku, a fivetime Olympic medalist in swimming and the Hawaiian credited with spreading the sport of surfing. As resounding waves pound the rocky levee, guests are greeted with a gentle “Aloha,” an expression of affection, peace and compassion. Visitors can absorb commanding views of the “Queen’s Necklace,” a strand that includes Point Dume, Palos Verdes, the Channel Islands and Santa Catalina Island. It is an experience that could be one of the more memorable series of tiki moments perhaps in a lifetime for families and couples. Remember to glance at the shoreline from time to time. swimming by to bid “Aloha” until you meet again.
Know Where Bar 5634 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. This is one of the most overlooked bars in Hollywood. The casual spot right on the edge of Thai Town is that place you go when you’re sick of long lines, $15 cocktails, and bartenders who only care about taking your money. Come here for a midweek date or a quick drink with friends, get involved with some house-made sangria or beer tumblers, throw a record on the jukebox, and wonder why it took you so long to discover this place.
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T H E G R E AT
RED CAR
CONSPIRACY by Kathleen Miles
Los Angeles used to have a public transit system that
covered about 25 percent more track mileage than New York City’s current subway system. In its eco-heyday in 1945, LA had more than 900 hydro-electric Pacific Electric “Red Cars” that covered more than 1,100 miles, from Pasadena to downtown LA, Santa Moncia, Long Beach, Balboa and Santa Ana. It connected LA, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. In comparison, New York City’s subway today covers 842 miles. So how did the City of Angels end up with the most pitiful transit system of any major U.S. city? You may have heard a story about General Motors buying the Red Cars and dismantling them in order to force dependency on freeways. But that’s just a myth propagated in the 1988 film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” The Red Car system was the brainchild of Henry Huntington, a real estate mogul who is also the namesake and creator behind So Cal’s Huntington Beach, Huntington Park and the Huntington Library. Huntington built up the Pacific Electric railroad system as a way of transporting potential residents to and from his own real estate developments. To power all those Red Cars, he went into the Sierras and built an unprecedented hydro-electric power
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operation. One of the problems the Red Cars faced is that Huntington never built them to be a comprehensive transit system. It was only meant to be a means of transit to the hundreds of subdivisions he built on the periphery of LA — one of the reasons LA is so spread out today. As a result, it became easier to get around by driving. Perhaps the final straw was when Californians rejected a tax in 1926 that would have repaired the Red Cars, which had become dilapidated and mocked as a “slum on wheels.” The Red Cars were soon replaced with bus routes and freeways, with the last Red Car running in 1961. As LA desperately tries to build up its subway system today, remaining Red Car tracks can still be spotted across the city, especially around Santa Monica. Ironically, just as they did in 1926, Angelenos failed to pass a half-cent transportation sales tax last year that would have expedited the city’s proposed subway extension. Even though 64.72 percent of Anglenos voted for the measure, California law requires a supermajority vote of 66.66% for any tax increase.
As reported in the March 19, 1956, Los Angeles Times, many of the cars were broken up for scrap. Currently some 200 old Pacific Electric red cars are piled three or four high in a mountain of rolling stock junk awaiting the searing knife flame of the torch. The cars, most of which rolled to their doom on their own wheels down Harbor Belt Line tracks to the yard, are stockpiled near the water’s edge. One at a time gantry cranes lift them down to the waiting men with torches and huge alligator-jawed cutting machines… After being dismantled, the scrap metal was sold locally or shipped overseas. The recycling continued for several years. By then the rail system was already being dismantled. The Venice line was replaced by buses in 1950. The end of the era was marked by members of the Venice Lions Club, who performed a musical tribute to the old trains before going on one last ride to downtown. Two years later, the Valley Red Car closed. In 1988, The Times looked back at its demise. Despite the protests, the last Red Car to operate in the Valley — called “A Streetcar Named Expire” — made its final horn-tooting run in 1952. “It was a sad day,” said cowboy Montie Montana, who, as honorary sheriff of the Valley, joined other dignitaries in riding the last Red Car. “They should never have taken them out. You could ride downtown for a quarter and have no traffic.”
Not all of the old Red Cars were sold for scrap. In 1959, some used trolleys were shipped to Buenos Aires for use in a streetcar system in Argentina. The Times reported that some of cars were placed on a ship bound for South America. They were moved to the harbor from the old Subway Terminal tunnel near 4th and Hill Sts., where they had been stored since making their last trips on this county’s former network of suburban trackage. There were many reasons for the decline of both the Red Cars and L.A.’s Yellow Car trolley system. But one has gotten much attention: a conspiracy to replace rail with buses and cars. This was the plot to the movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” The Times examined the facts in 2003. In 1945, the Yellow Car system was sold to American City Lines, a subsidiary of National City Lines, a Chicago-based company whose investors included General Motors and other big oil and rubber interests. Here is where the conspiracy theorists have a point. National City Lines soon controlled 46 transit networks in the Midwest and West, including Los Angeles. The company began scrapping these electric systems and replacing them with diesel buses that — surprise — used fuel and rubber. Clearly, L.A.’s electric-car days were numbered. By 1946, the Justice Department had caught on. It filed an antitrust suit
Here is a map of Pacific Electric’s railroads in 1925.
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Other factors that doomed the Red Cars, according to LA Metro: • Same basic business issues both pre and post WWII - huge capital costs to replace aging power substations, catenary wire and rail cars, buses become the economical alternative, rail-to-bus conversions begin in 1925. • No public subsidies for capital or operating costs available from local, state or federal governments.
against National City Lines for conspiracy to monopolize the transit industry. But before the suit came to trial in Chicago, the consortium of big companies bailed out, selling their holdings in National City Lines. That essentially left it as an empty corporation. In 1949, the case finally came to trial. The verdict was mixed, with acquittals and convictions. Although they no longer owned National City Lines, the companies in the consortium were fined wrist-slapping amounts of $5,000 each, while individual company officials were fined $1 each, for a total of $37,007. By then, the farflung suburbs were crisscrossed by cars, highways and a few freeways, and the so-called conspiracy plot simply applied the coup de grace to a dying system.
• Cultural changes - automobile reliability improves, status symbol marketing, and women & minorities enter the industrial workforce. • Modal improvements - brand new uncrowded highways and freeways. • Transit service operators believed that the freeway system would accommodate and speed transit buses as a high speed backbone, thereby increasing their attractiveness to passengers. • GM perfects and markets the 45 seat transit bus; air conditioning and air suspension become options. • Diesel is not yet considered to be a component of a new phenomenon called “smog.”
stacked red cars waiting to be dismantled for scrap in San Pedro above: red car track on what is now the 5 freeway
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