Gentle reader,
Bad news: all efforts to convince the City Planning Department and Office of Historic Resources to use their redevelopment zone authority and reject a demolition permit for the M. Flax Artists' Materials Building (1925) have failed, and the beautiful, historic storefront on MacArthur Park is presently being demolished. We’re not sure if there will be anything left by our Westlake Park walking tour on June 8.
This is breaking our hearts, and yet… on walking down the alley to see what was happening to the building, we encountered a most remarkable person.
Jaime Castro, the guy driving the bulldozer in the video, has spent thirty years removing historic materials from fine old buildings whose owners have decided to rip them down. If he sees something he likes, Jaime and his crew will do the work for the scrap value, in the old maritime definition of salvage. And like us, he’ll water the ruins with his tears.
M. Flax did not need to be demolished. It’s only happening because this fine and useful building was illegally remodeled into an unpermitted loft, then held vacant for years, with absentee owners who didn’t do the bare minimum needed to keep vandals and arsonists out.
But even after the wooden floors and ceilings burned, the brick walls were solid and the building could have been restored.
The new, Florida-based owners don’t want to restore M. Flax. If they hope to redevelop the site, they’re saving themselves the hassle of an Environmental Impact Report and objections from the preservation community by only submitting a demolition plan now. And while the city could have refused, it said okay.
Since M. Flax is getting destroyed, it’s some consolation that its century-old LABCO bricks will be used in future projects and not hauled off to the dump, and that the demolition is being done in a spirit of reverent respect by our new friend Jaime Castro.
Watching the walls at M. Flax pulled down and its bricks loaded into a truck to be sorted, stacked and sold, we found ourselves humming a sad little tune we’re calling “See Westlake While You Can.”
We’d like to show YOU this wonderful neighborhood, and share tales of its creative, weird and magical past. So while supplies last, we’re offering two tickets for the price of one for the June 8 Westlake Park Time Travel Trip walking tour. That’s $25/person. Bring a friend on this deep dive into the cultural, architectural and true crime history of a fascinating L.A. neighborhood, including a special stop at the demolition threatened Silver Platter, the oldest gay bar in town.
Here’s how to book one of these special discount pair passes:
Click this link, which will take you to our Shopify storefront with the “silverplatter” discount code already entered. Scroll down to learn more about the tour. Call a friend. Buy a $50 ticket. When you check out, you will have a second ticket in your cart for free. And pass it on.
Any trouble or questions, just email us—we’d love to see you there.
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
Psst… If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar and a subscriber edition of this newsletter, vintage Los Angeles webinars available to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. We’ve also got recommended reading bookshelves on Amazon and the Bookshop indie bookstore site. You can share this post to win subscriber perks. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking and bus tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING BUS & WALKING TOURS
• POP – Preserving Our Past Featuring the Dutch Chocolate Shop (Sat. 6/1) • Westlake Park (Sat. 6/8 - use the special link above) • Film Noir / Real Noir (Sat. 6/29) • The Real Black Dahlia (Sat. 7/6) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (Sat. 7/13) • Miracle Mile Marvels and Madness (Sun. 7/21) • Know Your Downtown L.A.: Tunnels To Towers To The Dutch Chocolate Shop (Sat. 7/27 - sorry, sold out) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (Sun. 8/4) • West Adams Sugar Hill and Angelus Rosedale Cemetery (Sat. 8/10) • Broadway: Downtown Los Angeles’ Beautiful, Magical Mess (Sun. 8/25) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown Los Angeles (Sat. 8/31)
See Westlake While You Can... with 2-for-1 tickets on our June 8 walking tour