Gentle reader,
It was hours after the unanimous vote to declare Marilyn Monroe’s house at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood a protected Los Angeles landmark that it really hit us: this special place was saved from demolition because we saw something and said something.
It’s a powerful and unsettling feeling for two native L.A. kids—Richard, who grew up in Cheviot Hills and always knew that Marilyn had owned the pretty Spanish hacienda in the Helenas, and Hollywood-ite Kim, whose best pal and downstairs neighbor was the star’s occasional hairdresser Peanuts Ugrin, and who always knew that pre-Marilyn Norma Jeane had been an inmate in the Hollygrove orphanage on Vine Street—to have had the opportunity to be of service to Marilyn’s memory and for all the thousands of fans who were heartbroken to think her home might be destroyed to expand a lawn.
One simple email to Council District 11, calling attention to the New York Post’s scoop about the pending demolition permit and an office holder’s right to initiate a landmark nomination, served to change Los Angeles and women’s history.
It’s humbling.
But it’s important to note that we only knew what to do because we are on such high alert about demolitions of historic bungalow courts.
Almost all of our residential preservation advocacy happens on the east side of town, where poor Angelenos are struggling to stay in their homes because there really is no place to go if you lose that, and the streets are very tough. People die on the streets. Then empty units get listed on Airbnb, or held vacant as a tax dodge, or demolished.
But the law about demolition permit notification is the same, whether you want to knock down an $8 Million mansion or a cute little stack of bungalows climbing the edge of Victor Heights.
So we gave the benefit of our experience to councilmember Traci Park. She and City Hall took it from there.
And the process worked. In 1962, Southwest Museum Director Carl Dentzel formed the Cultural Heritage Board and brought urgency, activism and a profound respect for the past to a City Hall that was unfamiliar with such energies.
He and his colleagues recognized that some cultural treasures couldn’t survive in place, due to inflated land values, so they created Heritage Square, dedicated with the understanding that eleventh hour preservation efforts were to be expected.
And while the current Cultural Heritage Commission doesn’t have Carl Dentzel’s advocate’s spark, they do use the tools he gave them, to enlist experts to report on a potential landmark, to listen to citizens who support or oppose designation, and to tee up any potential monument for City Council to make the final determination.
On Wednesday morning in City Council chambers as the final vote was held, we were only observers. We didn’t know how Council might vote, or if they would vote at all due to ongoing litigation. In the end, councilmember Traci Park stood her ground, called for a vote, and received unanimous support to landmark 12305 Fifth Helena Drive.
As Kim turned away from the dais and walked to the back of Council chambers, cell phone still recording, she found eternal gadfly Wayne Spindler and his goat puppet alter ego, holding court with the LAPD officers, explaining to them that while Marilyn’s house was being designated, a shocking Supreme Court decision had legalized bribing politicians—just so long as the payoff comes after the vote!
From the sublime to the horrifying, in the length of an aisle. But every so often something happens that lets ordinary people feel that they have a voice and that their elected officials are listening. That happened with the vote to designate Marilyn’s home, and it’s being felt not just in Los Angeles, but all over the world.
It ain’t over, but we think it’s all going to be okay.
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
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 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
• 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)
CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS
We were on AirTalk on LAist 89.3 talking about civil defense sirens, including the neglected one we got the city to preserve.
In March 2020, Cranky Preservationist Nathan Marsak asked why councilman Gil Cedillo would alter a protected historic district to add a high rise draped in digital signs. Four years later and that sketchy deal is DOA, with an application submitted to turn the empty bank note building into self-storage. A good use!
A few legal cases to watch: After sitting on citizen complaints for years, the LA City Attorney has filed an unfair competition and conspiracy civil suit against Ukrainian Airbnb influencer Vladyslav Yurov (@vladbnb, who is still active online) for turning RSOs and other properties into illegal nightly rentals, teaching others to do it, and ripping of Airbnb with fake damage claims. We have a lot of questions about this case. Why go after a foreign national (no extradition from Ukraine) who claims to own no property and with only a few RSO units in his portfolio, when local landlords are taking hundreds of units of affordable housing off the market?… The empty apartment buildings, the soul destroying street drugs, the bribed politicians, it's all coming out as the Feds link Sinaloa cartel to Chinese bankers in money laundering indictment. See the tough mugs of Operation Fortune Runner, from the DEA's slideshow on the occasion of the First Superseding Indictment drop…. Shout out to the Crane Boulevard Safety Coalition, a group of concerned Angelenos and their dogged lawyer, who are uncovering some truly shocking shenanigans in City Hall land use—stuff that has even seasoned corruption watchers horrified... and hopeful.
This is the most disturbing CPRA request we've ever seen. RIP Maria Antonia Lazo and peace to her kids.
Sweet story about Romanian Angelenos Catalina and Bob Popescu's passion project Catalina Jazz Club, est. 1986. It vibrates with a golden thread of hospitality leading from the late, great Bullock’s Wilshire Tea Room!
Vacant buildings don't just keep affordable housing off the market, but put neighbors at risk. The boarded up 7406 S. Figueroa sold in Aug '22 and burned 6/15/24, scorching the lovely bungalow court next door. Vacancy tax now!
Scott Avenue Court is an L.A. landmark, not an Ellis Act property. A City Planning case has been opened to convert 10 RSO apartments to 8 small lot houses. Cool idea—but what about the tenants?
Bob Baker Marionette Theater is workshopping its first new show in 40 years, Choo Choo Revue, during the Enchanted Toyshop run. Bob would be so proud to see how his dream factory has grown, despite a sketchy developer displacing it from its landmark home.
Thanks, chimney guy! Because of you, we know Casa Dilla Apts (1912), 35 RSO units which sold for $4.2 M in 2014, are held vacant at 1349 S. Flower in Downtown LA. Owner: spec mansion developer Ardie Tavangarian. Hang on... and is this a unit in the new "apartment" building door, listed for nightly rental on booking.com? It's a housing use crisis.
The Preservation Imp is on the move, visiting endangered historic landmarks that need some love today. Who are you gonna listen to on Los Angeles land use, some dopey politician who wants you to like 'em or an ancient, one-legged imp?
Is the Brown Woolly Fig California State Champion Big Tree at Santa Ana Main Library doomed? Public records show the plan to kill it was because the state gave a big grant that needed to be spent on something. Save the Parrot Tree!
LA Conservancy seeks landmark designation for El Sereno's Maycrest Bungalows (1925), a Tudor Revival charmer boarded up by Caltrans 33 years ago (!) for the 710 that never came. HACLA won the auction, wants to demolish. The enchanted village must be saved! Read the nomination here and visit our bungalow court advocacy page.
M. Flax Artist Materials Bldg. is nearly gone, as Jaime Castro's brick salvage crew pulls down the facade. For almost a century, it has looked out on Westlake, then MacArthur, Park. Goodbye. It is the city's fault. This beautiful, useful building was held empty for many years, illegally converted to residential, left open to burn. The neighbors were woken up by smoke and terror. Los Angeles lets property owners hoard empty buildings for demolition by neglect. It is destroying the city.
The St. Vibiana Circle is a place where historic preservation and affordable housing advocacy come together, and welcomes all people who care about how Los Angeles history can provide a hopeful future for Angelenos. Join us on the plaza outside the Cathedral on Tuesday, July 9 at 1pm.
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