Preservation
Gary Leonard Studio Open House and Talk
LAVA Visionary Gary Leonard has been taking photos on the streets of Los Angeles for over forty years. His images include iconic shots of punk rockers, politicians, and entertainers. He's lately turned his attention to Downtown, where he now has opened his own gallery Take My Picture. Gary's also recently revived his "Take My Picture" column on the widely-read LAObserved.com
On September 26th, following the monthly Sunday Salon and just a brisk walk south from Clifton's, Leonard opens his gallery for a special showing and artist talk moderated by fellow LAVA Visionary Anthea Raymond. Leonard will share the stories behind some of his iconic photos. The conversation will also include David Leonard, Gary's videographer-producer son who's now studying at UCLA.
All About The Hollywood Pantages Theatre
The Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation (www.lahtf.org)
in association with Hollywood Heritage and the Nederlander Organization present
ALL ABOUT THE HOLLYWOOD PANTAGES THEATRE (1930)
a free comprehensive insider’s tour of a beautifully restored Broadway road house,
operated by The Nederlander Organization.. One of L.A.’s finest theatres.
Saturday, August 28, 10:30 am; doors open at 10:00am
Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, CA 90028-5310- (213) 468-1770
http://www.broadwayla.org/index.asp
The Public is Invited. Admission: $7 – free for LAHTF and HH Members
HEAR and SEE the story of the Hollywood Pantages, the third and grandest of Alexander Pantages Los Angeles theatres. Pantages/Arcade (1910) on Broadway and Pantages/ Warner (1921) at 7th & Hill.
POWERPOINT HISTORY – theatre historian Ed Kelsey is preparing a comprehensive overview of the Pantages history and magnificent restoration.
Here’s a short video preview:
TOUR BEHIND-THE-SCENES – get a real insider’s look at the Pantages. Tour backstage, dressing rooms and see the performer’s view from the stage – behind the footlights. Learn how the theatre accommodates complex Broadway shows and other events. From backstage to the original projection booth, you’ll see it all.
RESTORATION! SEE & LEARN – about the $10 million restoration/renovation. How the magnificent interior has been brought back to its silvery Art Deco glory – about finding the right carpeting and new seats - about restoring the marquee and restoration of the ticket foyer.
ADVOCATE – find out how you can become involved in the LAHTF’s ongoing theatre preservation work around Southern California. Brief updates on the United Artists, Inglewood Fox, Golden Gate, Belasco and others.
Many people are fascinated by the architecture of fantasy so beautifully on display in Southern California’s great historic theatres. People are also curious about how the theatres work. What does it look like backstage? What do the performers see when they look out across the footlights? Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation's "All About" series gives the public an insider's look at these wonderful theatres and share parts of their histories - good and bad - as a way to encourage people to become actively involved in protecting and ensuring their futures.
The LAHTF is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting, preserving, restoring and supporting the operation of Southern California’s historic theatres. For more information visit www.lahtf.org
COMING SOON: All About the Hollywood Warner, Ricardo Montalban, Music Box and more!
Contact: Hillsman Wright 310 403-0865, Hillsman@lahtf.org
Esotouric's Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice crime bus tour
From the founding of the city through the 1940s, downtown was the true center of Los Angeles, a lively, densely populated, exciting and sometimes dangerous place. After many quiet decades, downtown is making an incredible return. But while many of the historic buildings remain, their human context has been lost.
This downtown double feature tour, hosted by Kim Cooper, Joan Renner and Richard Schave, is meant to bring alive the old ghosts and memories that cling to the streets and structures of the historic core, and is especially recommended for downtown residents curious about their neighborhood's neglected history.
The Hotel Horrors portion is a true crime and oddities tour featuring some of the wildest, weirdest, goriest and most memorable happenings in historic hotels like the Alexandria, St. George, Barclay and Cecil. Get on the bus to see inside some of these legendary locales and find out where Night Stalker Richard Ramirez liked to stay and the hotel that saw a visit from the Skid Row Slasher, and where two traveling chocolate salesmen laughed so hard they fell backwards out a window to their deaths. You'll also explore the fiery curse that repeatedly leveled the St. George Hotel. Included are some light hearted stories to help the blood and gore go down.
The Main Street Vice portion is a social history tour celebrating the ribald, racy, raunchy old promenade where the better people simply did not travel, but kicks were had by all who did. Burlesque babes and dirty picture parlors, mummified western outlaws and old time tattoo parlors, wax museums and pawn brokers, "professors" offering sex lectures and magazine peddlers with nudie Marilyn Monroe calendars under the counter, sophisticated steak houses and nickel donut dives -- these were the pleasures and the people to be found along Main during the first half of the 20th century, a street that every Angeleno knew offered more (yet less) of what could be seen anywhere else. On this tour, we'll visit the scenes of some more unforgettable debaucheries and share stories of crime, smut, passion and commerce.
Climb aboard for a time travel journey back to the downtown that's not there anymore, and the surprising amount of gems that survive.
Esotouric's Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: South LA bus tour
“I learned to drive in order to read Los Angeles in the original” -Reyner Banham, Architecture of Four Ecologies
This provocative Esotouric bus adventure begins downtown and works its way south through Vernon, Bell Gardens, Santa Fe Springs and Downey, and through the past two centuries, exploring some of L.A.'s seldom-seen gems. Turning the West Side-centric notion of an L.A. architecture tour on its head—just like Banham's book did for the historical monograph – the bus goes into areas not traditionally associated with the important, beautiful or significant, raising issues of preservation, adaptive reuse and the evolution of the city. The locations all speak to the power, mutability and reach of the Southern California Dream. Some of the tour stops are:
The Gage Mansion (1808). The oldest adobe structure in Los Angeles County, this fascinating home sits smack dab in the middle of a 65-year-old trailer park on the banks of the Rio Hondo River in Bell Gardens. Between the layers of context at this site is the history of migration and growth in the Southland, from Spanish land grants to the dust bowl to the vast waves of stucco suburbs.
The Clarke Estate (1919). A lost masterpiece by tilt-slab concrete architect Irving Gill, this Mission Revival-inspired dwelling features symbolic leaves pressed into the walls and feels like a time capsule from a simpler California.
East Los Angeles Train Station (1932). A prominent location in the 1946 film "The Postman Always Rings Twice," it was built to deal with congestion and overcrowding in the existing downtown terminals. Currently a picturesque Mission-style ruin in the shadow of the wacky Citadel shopping center, will it rise again as the rail lines reassert themselves?
Johnie's Broiler (1958/2008). A cautionary tale about historic preservation, this beloved Downey diner with its landmark neon sign was illegally demolished by a renter who wanted to park use cars in its place. The site was barred from further commercial use due to public outcry, and is now being restored as a Bob's Big Boy.
The Rives Mansion (1912). Pioneer publisher and civic leader James C. Rives built this striking Colonial Revival home, which has been a Downey landmark for nearly a century, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Tropicana Bakery. Downey's most beloved Cuban sandwich and sweet shop, creators of such temptations as the Choco-Flan, the giant cake-and-fruit-filled Florentine cookie, and the Flan/Cheesecake layer cake.
No other city has so fascinated architecture critics and scholars of urban and cultural studies than L.A., that sprawling, self-referential zone of mystery and glamour. British writer Reyner Banham was the first to love Los Angeles for what she was, her ugliness as well as her beauty. In the early 1970s he abandoned his academic preconceptions to revel in this city of freeways, foothills, beaches and suburbs, built on mobility and flux by a series of invaders. Along the way, he discovered extraordinary spaces in neighborhoods that were often overlooked for being too remote, too industrial, or simply occupying invisible "flyover country" beneath the great L.A. freeways.
In this city on the edge of the western dream, nothing was like what came before. Status was no longer communicated through the construction of stone palaces that looked like they fought every step of the journey over the Rocky Mountains, but rather by freeway access and wacky drive-thrus, light, ventilation, organic design and a sensitivity to a built environment— commercial and architectural innovations which would have been unthinkable anywhere and anytime else.
Gone was the unified vision of a city, and yet there was a method to L.A.'s madness. What Banham saw was something far more complicated: behind this urban sprawl was a pattern, almost a language, which could not be understood through old modes of architectural and urban criticism, but which had to be viewed through the organic facts of its own ecologies.
Esotouric guides Richard Schave and Kim Cooper studied under Banham as undergraduates at UCSC, and both were deeply influenced by his work. In Fall 2007, we launched the "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles" architectural series in tribute to our late professor, who showed us our native Southern California through fresh eyes.
ABOUT REYNER BANHAM: Reyner Banham(1922-1988) was a prolific architectural critic best known for "Theory and Design in the First Machine Age" (1960) and "Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies" (1971). Professor Banham taught at the University of London, SUNY Buffalo and the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was Chair of the Art History Department.
Esotouric's Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Lowdown on Downtown bus tour
Join your host Richard Schave, the founding director of the Downtown LA Art Walk non-profit, on a tour that reveals the secret history, and the fascinating future, of this most beguiling LA neighborhood.
This is a tour about the populated, vibrant mid-20th Century Downtown Los Angeles you've only heard about, and about the 21st Century Downtown which will rise again with a richness of heritage and quality of life that leaves natives and visitors gaping in disbelief. This is a tour about Downtown's invisible neighborhoods and great public spaces which managed to escape the wrecking ball. This is a tour about how gentrification sprung up on the city's meanest streets, with all the conflicts that go along with a major socio-economic shift in a small community. This is a tour about the real Los Angeles, the city even natives don't know. Get on the bus for the real Lowdown on Downtown, as no one but Esotouric's Richard Schave can reveal it.
Having studied under architecture critic Reyner Banham in the mid-1980s, tour host Richard Schave has taken it upon himself to correct his teacher’s gross oversight of downtown Los Angeles, relegated to a dismissive coda in his seminal Los Angeles guidebook Los Angeles: A Study of Four Ecologies. Richard and his wife Kim Cooper work extensively with the history and lost cultures of downtown in their bus tours, on blogs including On Bunker Hill, In SRO Land and 1947project, and through public lectures on the subject.
This tour has a significant walking component, down the stairs along Angels Flight, around Pershing Square, through several other pedestrian locations. We return to the bus to cool down and rest, and passengers can remain on the bus if they wish, but please be prepared to take a stroll. Locations on the tour include: Angels Flight, Clifton's Cafeteria, Grand Central Market, Mercantile Arcade Building, St. Vincent's Alley.
This tour will include a snack break. You may also bring a sack lunch if you wish.
The Flâneur & The City: Olvera Street (tour is now fully booked, sorry)
Urban historian Richard Schave's site-specific discussion series "The Flâneur & The City" is an ongoing attempt to explore some of the more important issues revealed by the constantly changing heart of the metropolis.The core notion of the series is of culture and history as commodities that are packaged and sold to a target demographic; meanwhile, it's the ignored and seemingly worthless scraps of meaning found on the sidewalks and marketplaces where the true remnants of positive public space can be found. All interpretations and nuisances of the word flâneur are examined -- from the modern-day aesthete dreaming of Baudelaire while carried along in the human tide past the stalls and shops of Broadway, to its more recent and perhaps relevant use, someone who is loitering. At its heart this series is a celebration of the simple act of getting out of your car and walking through a neighborhood and learning to see it with all your eyes.
In this installment, we will visit Olvera Street, the historic seed of Los Angeles and the first place where issues of urban preservation entered the city's consciousness. On this free 45-minute walking tour, we'll explore the site's history, from the founding of the city (1781) to the present day, with a focus on the "classic" era: Christine Sterling's nearly thirty years of preservation and reinterpretation, which resulted in the entire Plaza becoming a State park, now managed by the city of Los Angeles.
On this informative stroll through a provocative and multi-layered space, we'll explore such key questions as:
* What core challenges, goals and strategies are shared by Christine Sterling at the Plaza in the early 20th century and the developers of downtown's Old Bank District (4th & Main) in the early 21st century?
* Can arts and culture succeed as a tool for economic development for reinvigorating historic neighborhoods? Was Jane Jacobs right when she proclaimed that "new ideas need old buildings"?
* Is there a point on the continuum where the creeping kitsch of a tourist attraction overwhelms the value of a vital community space? Can a positive public space be ruined by popularity and accessibility?
The 45-minute tour will be followed with a preview visit to downtown's newest cultural institution, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes in the old Brunswig Building just south of "La Placita" church. Here President and CEO Miguel Angel Corzo will give us a 30-minute walkthrough of the newly-refurbished site and touch on the core goals and objectives for the institution, which opens in the fall.
Space is very limited on this free walking tour, and each guest must sign up using their own name and email address--no plus ones can be accommodated. To reserve, please click "Signups" above (or at this link) and give your full name when filling out the form. If unable to attend, please cancel to free up space for another guest.
Parking will be validated for those who have signed up for the tour in the parking lot of La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, just south of 501 North Main Stree (see map link). Please plan to arrive about 10 minutes before the tour starts for check in at the entrance to La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, 501 North Main Street.
Musil Museum Tour (last chance!)
LAST CHANCE TO SEE
JOE MUSIL’S SALON OF THE THEATRES
BEFORE IT CLOSES FOREVER
LAHTF Benefits! Saturday, July 10, 1 - 4pm
Eminent American theatre designer Joseph Musil has been involved in over 25 theatre restoration-renovation projects. Among them are: The El Capitan Theatre (twice) in Hollywood for the Walt Disney Co., the Majestic Crest Theatre in Westwood with its black light nighttime Los Angeles interior, the Fine Arts Theatre on Wilshire, the Alex and others. Large working models costing thousands of dollars were made of Joe’s projects and they are on display with many other treasures at his Studio of the Theatres in Santa Ana . His onsite 10-curtain Art DecoStrand Theatre hosts films and live performances. You will also see the many theatre-related goodies he has collected throughout his career - a conservative valuation is over one million dollars! Here are a few links to give you a sneak peek of the treat in store:
http://cinemasightlines.com/showmanship_theatremuseum.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPT4ju3XXrI
http://www.ocshowbiz.com/misc/Musil%20Museum/MusilMaster.shtml
http://www.ocweekly.com/2003-01-16/culture/meta-musil/1
Sadly, the Studio is now closed. The collection will be put up for sale soon. Joe has been in failing health and hospitalized for several months. However, thanks to Joe, his brother Robert and Ted Gooding, the Studio will be opened one last time for Southern Californiahistoric theatre fans to benefit the LAHTF. Members of Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation will be admitted free, (but a donation is suggested). All others - suggested donation is $10. Donations at the door defray Studio expenses. You can join LAHTF on the spot or through PayPal at our website – www.lahtf.org .
A basic membership is only $25.
People will be there to sign you up and tell you of upcoming theatre related events.
Since the Studio was also Joe's Workshop, it was rare that the public was allowed inside.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity - Bring your camera.
Saturday, July 10, 2010, 1:00pm – 4:00pm
LAHTF Members Free. Non-members - $10. (suggested donation)
Location:
American Museum of Theatre Design - Studio of the Theatres
207 No. Broadway, Suite P
Santa Ana, California 92701
Between 3rd and 2nd Streets at the beautiful Santora Building, Second Floor, Downtown Santa Ana. Parking is available in a structure and lots at a low price nearby. Places to dine are also close by.
Santa Ana had many theatres in its day, and while you are there you might like to drive around and look at them.
For more information about the event, visit www.lahtf.org, our FaceBook page or contact:
Hillsman Wright – Hillsman@lahtf.org – 310 403-0865
If you are interested in purchasing components of the Museum, contact Joe's brother,
Robert Musil (714) 6671021; cell 253/509-2929 - e-mail: 37coupe@hotmail.com
Thank You. We look forward to seeing you on this special one-time-only theatre day.
Spirits with Spirits: The Aztec Hotel
GHOULA meets for cocktails in haunted places on the 13th of each month. “SPIRITS with SPIRITS” is a casual gathering of regional ghost hunters and those that just like ghost stories. Open to all, from the curious skeptic to the passionate phantom pursuer. Make friends, and toast a ghost! Let's put the “Boo!” back into “booze.” All those who attend will receive a free G.H.O.U.L.A. button. If you already have one, please wear it so others can find you.
This month's meeting will be held at the historic (and haunted) Aztec Hotel, one of the iconic roadside attractions of old Route 66. In addition to its place in Southern California's car culture, it is also said to have been (over the decades) a brothel, a speak-easy, a gambling den, a mobster hangout, and a half-way house. The management has agreed to give attendees tours of haunted room 120, where an actress (or possibly a prostitute) died when her head cracked open on the radiator during the throws of passion. In addition, there will be themed live entertainment in the bar, and some other spooky surprises.
Late Night at Musso & Frank
When prohibition ended in 1933, the owners of Musso & Frank wasted no time in opening a bar at Musso’s. The stools quickly filled with an exclusive clientele who struck deals while sipping Musso’s famous Martinis. There was no other restaurant or bar in the city... perhaps no other place in the world, where one could see the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Humphrey Bogart, Greta Garbo or Gary Cooper all in the same room... Mussos was that place.
That same bar that propped up William Faulkner, Janis Joplin, Charles Bukowski and Steve McQueen on a regular basis is still at Mussos, surrounded by the ghosts of American legends still chasing after one more drink. Now on Friday and Saturday nights, bartending legend Rueben Rueda, who has been tending bar at Mussos for over 40 years, is staying up late and serving up classic cocktails, late night appetizers and a big slice of Hollywood history. As the dinner hour winds down, the lights dim and the sounds of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong fill the room with the nostalgic sounds of the '20s, '30s, and '40s, while around that famous bar the new generation of artists, writers and tastemakers launch their own legends.
Late Night at Musso & Frank
When prohibition ended in 1933, the owners of Musso & Frank wasted no time in opening a bar at Musso’s. The stools quickly filled with an exclusive clientele who struck deals while sipping Musso’s famous Martinis. There was no other restaurant or bar in the city... perhaps no other place in the world, where one could see the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Humphrey Bogart, Greta Garbo or Gary Cooper all in the same room... Mussos was that place.
That same bar that propped up William Faulkner, Janis Joplin, Charles Bukowski and Steve McQueen on a regular basis is still at Mussos, surrounded by the ghosts of American legends still chasing after one more drink. Now on Friday and Saturday nights, bartending legend Rueben Rueda, who has been tending bar at Mussos for over 40 years, is staying up late and serving up classic cocktails, late night appetizers and a big slice of Hollywood history. As the dinner hour winds down, the lights dim and the sounds of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong fill the room with the nostalgic sounds of the '20s, '30s, and '40s, while around that famous bar the new generation of artists, writers and tastemakers launch their own legends.
