Episode #94: Grand Ave. & Grand Visions

01/26/15 • 62 min

Join us this week as we talk with Donald Spivack, former Deputy Chief of Operations and Policy for the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles, about Bunker Hill’s Grand Avenue and its multiple reinventions over the past four decades. We’ll also visit with Jon Christensen, editor of Boom, a Journal of California, to learn about the motivations that power this most California-centric publication.

We’ll also discuss the destruction of the Royal Viking Motel neon sign, John Buntin debunks gentrification myths, when activists go gonzo, Chris Nichols lists 12 endangered L.A. landmarks, a white knight for the Southwest Museum, Ray Bradbury’s demolished house starts conversations about preservation and public policy and the National Register Rives Mansion in Downey in peril. All this and more as Kim & Richard usher in the week of January 26th, 2015.

Image: Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles Map

Closely Watched Trains & URLs for Podcast

Boom A Journal of California

The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles by Kim Cooper and Paul Rogers.

The Royal Viking, RIP.

Gentrification myths debunked.

When activists go gonzo.

Twelve endangered L.A. buildings to watch.

The Southwest Museum matters.

Loss of Ray Bradbury’s house gets preservationists talking.

Rives Mansion in Downey is in trouble. Video of what was.

Monthly Sunday LAVA Salon February 2015

LAVA Forensic Science Seminar: Hot Lead and Hot Leads: Forensic Firearm / Gang Communication Analysis

Listen to Episode #94!

https://esotouric.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/yces-94.mp3

Image: Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles Map

Closely Watched Trains & URLs for Podcast

Boom A Journal of California

The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles by Kim Cooper and Paul Rogers.

The Royal Viking, RIP.

Gentrification myths debunked.

When activists go gonzo.

Twelve endangered L.A. buildings to watch.

The Southwest Museum matters.

Loss of Ray Bradbury’s house gets preservationists talking.

Rives Mansion in Downey is in trouble. Video of what was.

Monthly Sunday LAVA Salon February 2015

LAVA Forensic Science Seminar: Hot Lead and Hot Leads: Forensic Firearm / Gang Communication Analysis

Listen to Episode #94!

https://esotouric.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/yces-94.mp3

Previous Episode

Episode #93: Citrus, Steaks and Sub-division along old Route 66

Join us this week as we talk with Myllie Taylor, longtime La Mirada resident and historian, about Bill Neff, whose sale of his grandfather’s 2,000+ acre citrus and olive farms in the early 1950s led to the community’s development. We’ll also visit with Claudia Heller, President of the Duarte Historical Society, to hear about the legendary Trails Restaurant, a staple of old Route 66 from 1952 to its abrupt closure in 2001.

We’ll also discuss the preservation crisis surrounding the flagship Norms coffee shop on La Cienega, a makeover for the El Dorado lobby with its problematic Batchelder “tiles,” demolition danger for Taco Bell #1 and architect Thom Mayne’s demolition of Ray Bradbury’s home in Cheviot Hills. All this and more as Kim & Richard usher in the week of January 19th, 2015.

Closely Watched Trains & URLs for Podcast

Duarte Historical Society’s Museum info.

Claudia Heller’s book, Life on Route 66: Personal Accounts Along the Mother Road to California.

Norms La Cienega preservation alert.

A new look for the El Dorado hotel lobby. (And the destroyed tile tale is here.)

Taco Bell #1 in peril.

Thom Mayne demolishes Ray Bradbury’s house.

Starchitect Thom Mayne is Tearing Down Ray Bradbury’s Cheviot Hills House Right Now

Kim’s free Pasadena Public Library talk on Raymond Chandler and The Kept Girl.

Monthly Sunday LAVA Salon February 2015

LAVA Forensic Science Seminar: Hot Lead and Hot Leads: Forensic Firearm / Gang Communication Analysis

Listen to Episode #93!

https://esotouric.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/yces-93.mp3

Next Episode

Episode #95: Fantastical Architecture of Old Los Angeles

Join us this week as we talk with Ansley Davies, Associate Curator in Planning and Development for the County of Los Angeles’ Department of Parks and Recreation, about the extraordinary collection of architectural features at East L.A.‘s City Terrace Park, including a Mid-Century Modern “Hypar” sports shell and relics of downtown’s Richardsonian Romanesque red sandstone Court House. We’ll also visit with writer Stinson Carter, to learn about about “La Vie Boheme” at Hollywood’s venerable Villa Carlotta apartments, whose residents are presently threatened with eviction as new owners seek to re-zone the structure as a high-end hotel.

We’ll also discuss the re-opening of Frank Lloyd Wright’s restored Hollyhock House on Olive Hill, how to mark literary sites in Los Angeles, demolition threats for Whittier’s historic reform school campus, Mission-era irrigation system revealed by Union Pacific track work, Vidiots in peril, new blood at the Angels Flight Railway, a preservation ordinance for unincorporated Los Angeles County and the reason for the abrupt closure of Les Noces du Figaro on Broadway. All this and more as Kim & Richard usher in the week of February 2nd, 2015.

Photo: juvenile Red Tailed Hawk in garden across the street from the Villa Carlotta