Preservation, Conservation and Shiny New Buildings
 | Spring has Sprung in Los Angeles - and The Los Angeles Conservancy has decided to Spring into the season with a tour of Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles . The tour includes the Alexandria Hotel from 1906, the El Dorado Hotel from 1913, the Los Angeles Times Building from 1935, in addition to other great locations of historical significance. |
In other historic news around Los Angeles. - the MTA was digging around doing things for the Gold Line - when they uncovered a Historic Aqueduct . The Zanja Madre was the city's primary water source from 1781 to 1904. The city plans to examine it, photograph it, then cover it back up and then continue what they were doing with the Gold Line. I guess
the area isn't really accessable for the public to visit it safely.
Other conservation efforts going around the city - one being the place where the church I attend meets - The Florentine Gardens Nightclub . The city wanted to build a firestation there. People protested because this is a building from Hollywood's great era. Marilyn Monroe
used to hang out there.
A recent Conservation effort with a wonderful outcome was The Fox Theatre in Fullerton
. Supporters saved this historic theatre and it looks like restoration is going to being soon.
A huge controversy was just resolved about the Hollywood Bowl . They wanted to remove the old orchestra Shell from the 1920s , and replace it with a
a more modern shell . In this case the need for better acoustics won out over preservation of the original shell.
The Hollywood Hetitage website has some interesting info about other Conservation / Preservation issues in the Hollywood area.
Personally, I have to admit I sometimes get torn between both sides on the whole Preservation / Conservation issue. I like shiny new buildings with fancy places to shop and drink my half-caf soymilk lattes . And I totally understand that it stimulates the economy and creates new jobs.. er, oh, what the heck - I really like the pretty new places to hang out. All clean and modern with fancy ceilings. Peaceful and serene and completely brand new.
But I also understand the need to remember where we come from, and to honor our history. In in Hollywood and Los Angeles there is a ton of history. Okay, maybe not as much as London or Paris - or even Boston or Philadelphia for that matter - or any of those really really old places where we get all our great historical personalities from.
In Los Angeles and Hollywood our history is relatively New. I mean in Hollywood, our history seems to only go back to the first movie ever made. (I know, our history dates back even further than that. I said "it seems".)
California was "discovered" by the first Europeans in 1542. (There were already plenty of people here so I guess "discovered" isn't really the correct word.)
California became a state in 1850. Los Angeles became a City roughly the same time.
In 1886, Hollywood got its name. I read somewhere that Mrs. Wilcox just overheard a stranger say the name "Holly Wood" on a train, and she liked it, and thats how it all came to be.
The first movie company started in Hollywood wasn't until 1907 .
In 1908 the first film made in Los Angeles was Francis Boggs' and Selig's The Count of Monte Cristo. It was made on what is now the cross streets of Sunset Blvd and Gower - two blocks away from where I have my day job.
However, moving pictures go back to almost the begining of humankind .
Oh, all this history is giving me a headache. Lets go back to shiny new buildings .....
But seriously, I think this is why some of the modern buildings in Hollywood are so very popular. They kept a piece of our history with them.
The Sunset and Vine complex built their new shiny building around what used to be the front of the building for Schwabs Drugstore - where Lana Turner was discovered. They kept the facade up, and built around it. They even made a nice new modern restaurant and called it Schwabs . Its not the original Schwabs at all - just the name makes us feel good.
And the most popular place of them all .. The Grove put a fancy mall with a fancy movie theatre and fancy stores and even fancier restaurants, right smack-up against The Original Los Angeles Farmers Market . And the combination of the two made it way more cooler and hip than anything else in Los Angeles. Not to mention you can see a movie, shop at Nordstoms and do your grocery shopping in one trip.
On the other end, is that not so great building Hollywood and Highland that looks like a piece of Las Vegas barfed on a section of Hollywood Blvd. No history. No warmth. No character. Even the Elephant Replicas from the Ten Commandments just don't work.
What works is a part of history, and piece of the present... and it all makes for a great scene in Hollywood.
