Ambassador Hotel and Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles

Historic Cocoanut Grove and the Hotel's Coffee Shop are slated for Demolition by LAUSD. We lost the Ambassador Hotel; now the Grove and the Coffee Shop are lost.

It was announced Tuesday, after a settlement was reached between the School District and LA Conservancy. The Conservancy and the Art Deco Society have been fighting to save the Ambassador Hotel and Cocoanut Grove from this egregious demolition.

It has been one year since the last portion of the Ambassador was demolished on Jan. 16, 2006. The Hotel's Coffee Shop was designed by renowned Architect Paul R. Williams. The 1921 hotel was a glamorous intersection of celebrity and politics in its heyday and the site of six Academy Awards presentations. Movie stars, royalty and every president from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon lodged there during visits to Los Angeles. It was also the scene of Robert Kennedy's assassination in 1968.

It is a sad day for Preservationists for yet another Landmark bites the dust.
Now the site is the new home for a 4,200 student K-12 school campus.

R I P.

Demolition is scheduled for Jan. 22.

Monumental Mural in Downtown LA

From the rooftop of 419 Spring, looking toward the west, I saw this impressive mural.

Calle de la Eternidad
Mural, 62'x42', 4th & Broadway, LA

Johnie’s Broiler in Downey

Save Johnie's Broiler

This old carhop in Downey originally was called Harvey's Broiler.
It was illegally demolished in 1-07-2007.
Looks like it was hit with scud missile.

Worth rebuilding? Worth preserving?

Better Demolition photos

What makes a building Worth Preserving?

The James Rose Center in Ridgewood NJ

Fallingwater by FLlWr
http://www.taliesinpreservation.org/

Instead of asking, What makes a building or cultural landscape Historic? We should be asking What makes it Worth preserving? This is a much more important question to ask when faced with the future of the built environment. Owners, Builders, Planners and Architects should consider the key elements of a good project.... What makes it lasting? What does it give back to the community and the society as a whole? Is it beautiful? Is it well-built? I have compiled a list of key ingredients to a project worth preserving, whether it has already been built or not.

• Adds character to our towns and cities.
• Enriches our lives.
• Stirs the soul
• Make our communities more interesting.
• Embodiment of the designer’s creative ideals and innovations.
• Unique.
• Represent a turning point, a moment in time when our view of the world was changed forever.
• Represent the vision and passion of the architect or owner.
• Inspirational
• A beautiful work of art, exquisite detail and composition
• Will be important to future
• Timeless/ classic – Withstands test of time
• Sense of place and community
• Not disposable
• Adaptable for future use
• Inspires intense feeling
• Safe and secure
• Endurance on more than one level - cultural, economic, esthetic

What do you think is worth preserving?

My New Years Resolutions

In my quest for self-improvement.... here is a succinct list of 2008 New Years Resolutions:

draw/ paint/ design everyday

communicate effectively

ncarb certification

learn formz

life with love

exercise more

live with purpose

increase production

reduce consumption

Little Country Church of Fire

My Little Project in Hollywood called The Little Country Church of Hollywood was completely destroyed on Christmas Eve. The church is a beautiful serene oasis in the center of Hollywood. With lush terraced gardens, tall palm trees, the quaint chapel is gone. Its knotty pine walls, its collection box, its organ, its steeple, its clapboard siding is no more. I mourn for my Little Church.

CBS caught the blaze in action from street and air. http://cbs2.com/local/Christmas.Eve.Gutted.2.617473.html

The LA Times had a blurb about the Landmark. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-briefs25dec25,1,746175.story?page=2&cset=true&ctrack=3

HOLLYWOOD

Historic church damaged in fire

Fire gutted the Little Country Church at 1750 N. Argyle Ave. on Monday night.

The blaze began shortly before 6:30 p.m. and caused the two-story, New England-style sanctuary to partially collapse before L.A. city firefighters extinguished the flames.

The church was designated a city historic-cultural landmark in 1992. Religious ceremonies were halted there five years later because of a dwindling congregation.

Since then, the site has suffered damage from vandals and squatters, who are suspected of setting a fire that damaged the building in 2004.

Earlier this year, a developer announced plans to convert the building into a combination bar, restaurant and church.

Officials were investigating the cause of the fire.

Big Broccoli Ocarina:Angels We Have Heard On High

Fun with Veggies