Gentle reader,
When we go out in Los Angeles, we always bring a list: addresses of vulnerable historic buildings to check on.
Some have recently had demolition permits applied for, others are vacant and open to squatters, some freshly listed for sale as multi-million dollar tear downs.
We find them through public records requests, real estate listings and tips from concerned citizens, then do a search for ownership, code violations, Ellis Act evictions, architect, original owner and notable residents.
By the time we get there, we feel like we already know the place.
Each visit feels like entering a room where someone very precious is in hospice care. Will this be the last time we ever get a chance to see them? Will they say something profound? Are they going to perish hours after we leave their side?
There are places we visit, again and again, until they’re saved—which lately has meant picked up bodily and trucked to Altadena—or until it’s too late and there’s nothing left but relics in the dirt.
(Instagrammer L.A. Eyes, too, has been watching the Stires Staircase Bungalow Court debacle on Sunset near Dodger Stadium, and is particularly irked that there is no mechanism to enforce construction of the promised affordable units that were used to justify the rejected landmarking, mass eviction and demolition, now that the vacant lot is on the market as a $2.5 Million flip.)
We document these visits, with photos and sometimes narrated videos, but don’t always publish immediately. That backlog gnaws at us, since any one of these landmarks could gone tomorrow.
But we do always advocate behind the scenes, which frequently involves contacting field deputies in the responsible City Council offices and asking that they direct building inspectors to do their jobs, enforce the law and direct the property owner to secure their buildings.
This almost never happens, but we keep asking.
We don’t visit Wilton or Taft in Hollywood anymore. Our pretty friends there are mostly gone after a rash of fires and demolitions and trucks bound for Altadena. We particularly lament the early AIDS services center Hernandez House, which was eligible for the National Register, but left open to be trashed and burned.
Often it feels like we’re alone in looking out for these vulnerable places. But on Wilton, we weren’t the only reporters snooping around as a block with several vacant Craftsman homes became a terrifying open air drug market with repeated fires, overdoses, threats and street violence.
In his Dreamland newsletter, National Book Critics Circle award winner Sam Quinones does a deep dive into how real estate speculation fueled by Karen Bass’ ED1 initiative, permitting delays, warehouse-style Housing First policies for people experiencing homelessness and dangerous new street drugs contributed to the nightmarish conditions on what had recently been a desirable block. One terrorized resident lost her livelihood and had to move out of state to avoid homelessness herself.
We spoke with Sam Quinones while he was reporting his story, and told him about the obscure public hearing we’d attended on 5/27/2025 before the Board of Building and Safety Commissioners, where residents who had once loved the historic buildings on Wilton Place begged the City to tear them down.
We were there to advocate for another burned out landmark, the Pacific Dining Car, and the original steel railcar-style kitchen that was intact in the rubble, but took the opportunity to ask the Commissioners to instruct the property owners to secure their vacant buildings, so they could be moved to Altadena to be homes again.
But Commissioners appointed by the Mayor don’t get involved in such progressive advocacy. They merely listen, occasionally opine, and then rubber stamp the destructive determinations sought by property owners, building inspectors and Council offices.
On this day, two owners (Lindon Shiao, who was also a previous owner of Hernandez House up the block, and 1750 N Wilton LLC) sought expedited permission to demolish structures apparently purchased with the intent of tearing them down. But they didn’t even bother to drive downtown and ask for that. Simply getting on the agenda was sufficient to know the answer would be yes.
The terrorized residents of the 1700 block of N. Wilton Place gave their gut-wrenching testimony into the void of a Commission hearing that is not live-streamed or videotaped, and that few in Los Angeles even know exists.
We filmed their testimony, and it has been gnawing at us. While it felt intrusive to document something so raw, this was a public hearing and the neighbors wanted to tell their stories. Angelenos ought to hear what they have to say, because the same thing could happen to anyone who lives in and around older housing stock.
They were not traumatized by some unavoidable Act of God, but as the direct result of a cascading series of policy failures and shirked civic responsibility. They continually asked the City for help, and were ignored, until it got sufficiently bad that the City was willing to grant demo permits that were otherwise not forthcoming.
It’s too late to save the vacant, unlocked houses on Wilton Place: they’ve been torn down, and the neighborhood is quiet once more. But there’s still time to save another Hollywood landmark—read on for how you can help.
We’ve been advocating for the Hollywood Center Motel with Council District 13 since March, shortly after the new owner applied for demolition permits for the collection of early 20th century residential structures with no new project proposed.
[Update November 10, 2025: Three days after this newsletter was published, Office of Historic Resources accepted Hollywood Heritage’s landmark application for the Hollywood Center Motel.]
Those demolition permits have not been forthcoming, but that hasn’t stopped the owner from leaving the buildings unsecured and accessible to squatters and vandalism. There have already been two fires, first on the balcony of the Queen Anne style William A. and Sarah Avery house “El Nido” (built around 1901), then in one of the bungalows on the east side of the property.
The video in today’s newsletter combines our Hollywood Center Motel footage shot on October 6 with Citizen user video of the fire that broke out on October 18 in one of the 1922 bungalow units and photos of the fire aftermath by preservation pals Shaggy Jason, DDRamona and platform9vintage.
Their photos show how close the fire came to spreading to the inhabited Hollywood Guest Inn next door, and that most of the Hollywood Center Motel complex is still here and can still be saved… if the City acts now to protect it.
At 6230 Sunset Boulevard, work has finally started on the long promised restoration of the neon and patterned paint facade of the Earl Carroll Theatre.
Around the back at 6263 Leland Way is the former Off Vine Restaurant, which from 1989-2023 operated inside the former Beryl Wallace Residence, a sweet Craftsman house that Earl Carroll purchased for his muse and lover so she and her family would have a convenient place to stay.
Like the late, lamented houses up on Wilton, 6263 Leland is fenced—but we able to stroll right up to it through the driveway next door. Unlike the houses that burned down, this one is properly, thoughtfully secured, with metal shutters and a serious door lock that protects the empty building from break-ins and blight.
If you think the Hollywood Center Motel’s buildings ought to be properly secured, please send an email to Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez at councilmember.soto-martinez@lacity.org, or call his office (213-473-7013), and let him know you care.
A sample message, which you can change to reflect your own thoughts: “I care about the vacant, unsecured Hollywood Center Motel at 6720 West Sunset Boulevard and am very concerned about the recent fires and vandalism. I want your office to work with LADBS to ensure the historic buildings are secured with metal shutters and locks and that the property is fully fenced.”
By reminding the City that these places matter to us, and that we count on elected officials to stand up to owners of derelict, blighted historic properties, we have a chance to save some good ones.
Thanks for scrolling through this dense newsletter, and letting us catch up with some of those backlogged videos. There’s more to come, including reporting from councilmember Curren Price’s bizarre should-have-been-a-pre-trial-hearing, so watch this space.
Tomorrow’s Highland Park Arroyo Time Travel Trip takes us to a neighborhood where there’s only one house that we’re really worried about—and it’s a doozy! Join us on a stroll from Lummis House to Heritage Square along the lower Arroyo, on a tour that celebrates historic preservation, folk art, streetlight hoarding and the quirky characters who have made this special corner of Los Angeles their home.
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
• Highland Park Arroyo Time Travel Trip (11/8) • Richard’s Birthday: Alvarado Terrace & South Bonnie Brae Tract (11/15) • The Real Black Dahlia (11/22) • Hollywood Noir (11/29) • Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice (12/6) • Westlake Park Time Travel Trip (12/13) • Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness (Sunday, 12/21) • Human Sacrifice: The Black Dahlia, Elisa Lam, Heidi Planck & Skid Row Slasher Cases (12/27)
