Gentle reader,
For the past decade, one of America’s richest families has been playing a dangerous game of chicken with cultural heritage, and on Tuesday, February 24 at 2pm at City Hall, we’ll find out if Los Angeles City Council’s PLUM Committee has the guts, foresight and civic wisdom to say no to Charlie Munger’s kin.
The matter under consideration is a backdoor demolition permit obtained for the Barry Building (Milton Caughey, 1951) a designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and the longtime home of Dutton’s Brentwood Bookstore (1984-2008).
Designated landmarks can be demolished in Los Angeles or receive permits to be moved to a different location, by going through a public hearing process.
But never before has a demolition permit been granted with no new project proposed. To obtain this, the property owners had to go to the obscure, powerful Board of Building and Safety Commissioners, claiming it is too expensive to retrofit the Barry Building and too dangerous to let it remain standing, claims which may or may not be true.
What we do know for certain is that the two-story, courtyard structure in the heart of the San Vicente commercial corridor has been vacant, fenced and neglected for a decade, in deteriorating conditions visible on Google streetview.
The enormous council file contains a number of written public comments from neighbors who want to see the Barry Building demolished because it looks really bad and seems dangerous—and who can blame them?
We’ve seen this so-blighted-it-should-be-demolished argument before with buildings brought before the Board of Building and Safety Commissioners.
In November, we shared video from terrorized neighbors on the crime scene that is Wilton Place in Hollywood, begging that previously beautiful historic buildings be granted demolition permits, after their owners left them open to become drug dens torched by arsonists.
The Board of Building and Safety Commissioners is the appropriate venue to seek demo permits for unlandmarked, blighted buildings. However, they are not qualified to make the determination they made, in favor of tearing the landmarked Barry Building down, and yet they did.
The righteously ticked off and concerned community members Ziggy Kruse-Blue and Bob Blue have organized as Angelenos for Historic Preservation and filed an appeal to make the city follow the law, and protect not just the Barry Building, but every landmarked building whose owners would rather not have to maintain and lease it out.
If you’re able to show up in person or make written public comment, they would appreciate your support.
The PLUM Committee vote on Tuesday 2/24 is one of the most significant public hearings in Los Angeles history, and it’s really not about if the Barry Building will retain its landmark protections. It’s much more important than that.
However, if the appeal does prevail, then the property owners could choose to change course and restore the Barry Building as the centerpiece of what many suspect will be a large new development, incorporating the vacant parcels where non-landmarked buildings have been recently demolished by the Munger family.
If the appeal fails, and if the BBSC is allowed to grant a demolition permit for a blighted landmarked property that would otherwise be protected, then neighborhoods all across Los Angeles should be prepared for their local landmarks to be left vacant and allowed to rot long enough to attract squatters, vandals, metal thieves and arsonists and to accumulate sufficient police and fire department calls to justify an abatement hearing before the BBSC.
Los Angeles doesn’t have to be this way. A city that manages its commercial corridors with a thoughtful combination of carrots and sticks can nip speculative blight in the bud and discourage property owners seeking to break preservation policy by testing how bad things can get before they get their way.
If you’re concerned about the dangerous precedent set by allowing demolition of a landmark for no new project, please click this link before noon on Tuesday and submit written public comment stating that you support the appeal and do not want to see the Barry Building demolished for no new project, along with any other thoughts you’d like to share.
You can also come to City Hall’s John Ferraro Council Chamber room 340 for the PLUM hearing starting at 2pm and sign up to make a one minute public comment in person. This will directly show support to Ziggy Kruse-Blue and Bob Blue, who have volunteered so much time to present a case that matters to all of Los Angeles.
The Barry Building is item #10 on the agenda, so if you come Downtown, bring a book.
You can learn more about the justifications for the appeal and the dangerous precedent this case presents in the CityWatchLA articles linked below:
• Eyesore or Crime Scene? Why We Must Save the Barry Building
• What the Proponents for the Demolition of the Barry Building Didn’t Tell You—And Why You Should Care
• Digging into Deception: The “Five-Foot Falsehood” and the Failure of AB 52 at the Barry Building
We appreciate Angelenos for Historic Preservation sticking up for the rule of law and for the proper process to be followed, and very much hope the PLUM Committee does the right thing tomorrow. And if they don’t, buckle up.
Update 2/24/26: At City Hall, we witnessed a shocking PLUM Committee rejection of the Angelenos for Historic Preservation appeal of the proposed Barry Building demolition for no new project. The precedent this would set for owners of landmarks to deliberately blight them is chilling. Our Kim Cooper’s public comment about this was featured on the Monks & Merrill show on KFI embedded above. There was no debate, the decision makers couldn’t care less, with unanimous rejection of the appeal by the three of five PLUM members present: Nithya Raman, Bob Blumenfield and Adrin Nazarian, all deferring to the wishes of Traci Park. This is a grave matter of citywide concern, and there’s no justification for the illegal vote trading on view here.
This matter will probably be litigated, but first it has to go to full City Council—tell YOUR representative to VOTE NO!
Saturday’s tour is Weird West Adams, a ramble around fascinating early streetcar suburbs to discover beautiful pockets of homes and intriguing commercial corridors, wrapping up with a visit to the landmarked mansion home of the Elmer McCurdy circus sideshow history museum. Join us, do!
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
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Our work—leading tours and historic preservation and cultural landmark advocacy—is about building a bridge between Los Angeles’ past and its future, and not allowing the corrupt, greedy, inept and misguided players who hold present power to destroy the city’s soul and body. If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar, 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. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING WALKING TOURS
• Weird West Adams & Elmer McCurdy Museum Visit (2/28) • Film Noir / Real Noir (3/7) • Franklin Village Old Hollywood (3/14) • Bunker Hill, Dead and Alive (3/21) • Know Your Downtown L.A.: Bradbury Building, Basements of Yore & the Dutch Chocolate Shop (3/28) • Christine Sterling & Leo Politi: Angels of Los Angeles (4/4) • John Fante’s Downtown L.A. (4/11) • Early Hollywood’s Silent Comedy Legends (4/18) • Downtown Los Angeles is for Book Lovers (4/25) • Highland Park Arroyo (5/2) • Charles Bukowski’s Westlake (5/7) • The Run: Gay Downtown History (5/23) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (5/30) • The Real Black Dahlia (6/6) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (6/13) • Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness (Sunday, 6/21) • Westlake Park (6/27)
