Imagine... Angels Flight in Motion & Pershing Square So Green edition

Gentle reader...

Anyone can complain that things aren't as nice as they used to be, and while we've done our share of complaining, we'd rather dig in and see how we can help.

That's why we started the Angels Flight Friends and Neighbors Society, to advocate for the return to service of that lovely little funicular railway that once served the plutocrats and pensioners of old Bunker Hill. Our petition helped spark Mayor Garcetti's call for a report from the MTA and ongoing efforts by his office to untangle the regulatory web that holds Angels Flight still.

But while we wait for bureaucracy to do its best, it still costs thousands each month to "keep the lights on" at Angels Flight. What better way to help raise some of that scratch than by throwing a gala celebration at one of Broadway's landmark motion picture palaces? Join us, do, for an Angels Flight fundraiser at the Million Dollar on November 5, featuring an illustrated lecture on lost Bunker Hill from L.A. historian Nathan Marsak and a screening of the brand new Library of Congress print of the astonishing 1951 film noir M, introduced by producer Harold Nebenzal, whose father Seymour produced the original Fritz Lang version in pre-war Berlin. Also pitching in, two generations of descendants of the man who built Angels Flight, coding a free mobile app celebrating this beloved L.A. treasure.

From the heights, to the flats, old L.A. has got its troubles. Not long ago, a design competition was announced with the aim of spotlighting yet another new look for Downtown's purple-painted, concrete-coated Pershing Square, widely recognized as one of the worst public spaces in America.

Here's a modest proposal for Pershing Square, and one you may have heard from us before: instead of trying one more time to redesign the park, what if we looked backwards to the green and beautiful space that was once so welcoming. John Parkinson designed that park in 1910. It was bulldozed to put in the parking garage and bomb shelter in 1951. Ever since, the park has failed to meet basic expectations.

This week, we are delighted to announce that we have partnered with Brian A. Kite, Managing Principal of SRK Architects, to support his firm's entry into the Pershing Square design competition with a proposal adapting elements of Parkinson's classic design to the needs of twenty first century Los Angeles.

To celebrate, we've collaborated with some talented pals to produce a short, inspirational video featuring rare vintage film footage of the park from Lois Weber's 1916 feature Shoes, newly restored by EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. You can view the 47-second Restore Pershing Square video clip on YouTube or Facebook. And as a bonus, see the complete Pershing Square scene from Shoes here. Please enjoy, share and encourage your friends to get involved and stay informed about progress in the design competition in the months to come. Because while you actually can spell "advocacy" without "y-o-u," it feels good to make an effort for this wonderful city.

In last week's newsletter, we cast our good wishes to the wind on the eve of the reopening of Clifton's Cafeteria, that iconic Los Angeles bastion of goodwill and good eats. And then, recalling how we'd been present to bear tearful witness on the last day of business under the Clinton family's ownership, we hurried down to 7th & Broadway the next morning, to document the scene on opening day.

There weren't any politicians or celebrities on hand to mark the occasion, just a growing line of beautiful, real Los Angeles people, all ages, all colors, all economic backgrounds, drawn together like moths to a flame they'd been missing, lo these past four years.

And while there were no official festivities planned, longtime patron Brother Pancake took it upon himself to give testimony of the importance of this great, good place in his own heart, and for generations of Angelenos. His words remind us that historic preservation is worth celebrating, but Clifton's has always been as much the people as the bricks and the walls. And as the eager public poured through those long-locked doors yesterday morning, Brother Pancake sang of just what it means to have a place that you can call your home away from home.

Early reports from diners suggest that the new Clifton's Cafeteria is physically impressive, but not quite there in the food and line pacing departments. We're sending our best wishes to the Clifton's crew as they work out the kinks to ensure smooth service, familiar fare and happy patrons for the next 76 years. The stakes are high, and we all want "our" Clifton's to succeed—and so it must.

In other news, this week we received our Huntington Library reader's cards! Stay tuned for new insights gleaned from this wonderful Southern California archive.

We're back on the bus on Saturday with a new bus adventure called Hollywood! We'll share weird crimes and tour gorgeous architecture while revealing select secrets of this most beguiling neighborhood. And the Raymond Chandler fans among you will come away with a recipe from Victor's, home of the middling gimlet. Come ride!

OUR HISTORIC L.A. PODCAST

In the latest edition of You Can't Eat the Sunshine, we're back from hiatus with a bang as we talk shop with restoration architect Brian Kite and peep inside the wild 1950s diary of Clifton's Cafeteria camera girl Vilma. Click here to tune in.

COMING SOON

HOLLYWOOD! - SAT. 10/10... This new tour reveals the unwritten history of the sleepy suburb that birthed the American dream factory, a neighborhood packed with fascinating lore and architectural marvels. You won’t see the stars’ homes or hear about their latest real estate deals, but we’ll show you where some colorful characters breathed their last, got into trouble that defined the rest of their lives and came up with ideas that the world is still talking about. So for unforgettable stories you won’t hear on anyone else’s Hollywood tour, climb aboard and tour Cross Roads of the World (Robert V. Derrah, 1936) and much more. (Buy tickets here.)

CHARLES BUKOWSKI'S LOS ANGELES - SAT. 10/17... Come explore Charles Bukowski's lost Los Angeles and the fascinating contradictions that make this great local writer such a hoot to explore. Haunts of a Dirty Old Man is a raucous day out celebrating liquor, ladies, pimps and poets. The tour includes a visit to Buk's DeLongpre bungalow, where you'll see the Cultural-Historic Monument sign that we helped to get approved, and a mid-tour provisions stop at Pink Elephant Liquor. (Buy tickets here.)

HALLOWE'EN HORRORS: DARK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LORE FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF KIM COOPER - FRI, 10/30... This illustrated true crime lecture and catered dinner, featuring our Kim Cooper, is presented by the Beverly Hills Women's Club. ($60 for non-members, reservations required. For info click here.)

THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA - SAT. 10/31... Join us on this iconic, unsolved Los Angeles murder mystery tour, from the throbbing boulevards of a postwar Downtown to the quiet suburban avenue where horror came calling. After multiple revisions, this is less a true crime tour than a social history of 1940s Hollywood female culture, mass media and madness, and we welcome you to join us for the ride. (Sold out, repeats 1/9/2016. Sign up for the waiting list here.)

RAYMOND CHANDLER'S L.A. - SAT. 11/7... Follow in the young writer's footsteps near his downtown oil company offices to sites from The Lady in the Lake and The Little Sister, meet several real inspirations for the Philip Marlowe character and get the skinny on Chandler's secret comic operetta that we discovered in the Library of Congress nearly a century after it was written. Plus a stop at Scoops for noirish gelato creations and a visit to Larry Edmunds Bookshop. (Buy tickets here.)

BLOOD & DUMPLINGS - SAT. 11/14... Forget Hollywood, babe, 'cause the quintessential L.A. town is definitely El Monte, its history packed with noirish murders, brilliant thespians, loony Nazis, James Ellroy's naked lunch and the lion farm that MGM's celebrated kitty called home. See all this and so much more, including the Man from Mars Bandit's Waterloo, when you climb aboard the daffiest crime tour in our arsenal, and the only one that includes a dumpling picnic at a landmark playground populated with fantastical giant sea creatures. (Buy tickets here.)

ECHO PARK BOOK OF THE DEAD - SAT. 11/21... New on our calendar, a crime bus tour meant to honor the lost souls who wander the hills and byways of the "streetcar suburbs" that hug Sunset Boulevard. See seemingly ordinary houses, streets and commercial buildings revealed as the scenes of chilling crimes and mysteries, populated by some of the most fascinating people you'd never want to meet. Plus a visit to Sister Aimee Semple McPherson's exquisite Parsonage, now a museum. (Buy tickets here.)

RICHARD'S 47th BIRTHDAY BUS TOUR OF THE PALOS VERDES PENINSULA - SAT. 11/28... Pack a picnic lunch (we’ll supply the birthday cake and coffee) and join us for an all-day outing exploring the history, landscape and built environment of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. This is a one-time only special event bus adventure that will never be repeated. (Get more info and buy tickets here.)

PASADENA CONFIDENTIAL - SAT. 12/5...The Crown City masquerades as a calm and refined retreat, where well-bred ladies glide around their perfect bungalows and everyone knows what fork to use first. But don't be fooled by appearances. Dip into the confidential files of old Pasadena and meet assassins and oddballs, kidnappers and slashers, black magicians and all manner of maniac in a delightful little tour you won't find recommended by the better class of people. (Buy tickets here.)

HOTEL HORRORS & MAIN STREET VICE - SAT. 12/12... Through the 1940s, downtown was the true city center, a lively, densely populated, exciting and sometimes dangerous place. But while many of the historic buildings remain, their human context has been lost. This downtown double feature tour 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. (Buy tickets here.)

2016 tours include: The Real Black Dahlia (1/9), Charles Bukowski's L.A. (1/16), The Lowdown on Downtown (1/23) and Eastside Babylon (1/30).

LAVA'S FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR - SUN. 10/18

Four times a year, we gather in the teaching crime labs of Cal State Los Angeles under the direction of Professor Donald Johnson to explore the history and future of American forensic science. Your $36.50 ticket to V is for Vice: Eight Decades of Sin & Scandal, from the Sunset Strip to Beverly Hills benefits graduate level Criminalistics research. For more info, click here.

RECOMMENDED READING

New from Angel City Press, a grandson's eye view of the complex social justice and hospitality legacy of Clifford Clinton, the man who brought down corrupt L.A. mayor Frank Shaw while building his Southern California cafeteria empire. As the city buzzes again with excitement about his landmark cafeteria, let's not forget the real man behind the headlines, and the dangerous waters he swam to make L.A. a better city for decent people to call home.

AND FINALLY, LINKS

You gotta kiss a lot of frogs…

A flat in the Chateau Delaware was good enough for Philip Marlowe--and having been inside, we can attest that it's more than good enough for you!

Newly digitized by the LA City Archives, a delightful Goofus & Gallant-style Downtown L.A. traffic safety film from 1946.

The dark, exclusive side of historic preservation. The humane middle ground is worth fighting for.

Save Billy's bologna!

The weird tale of a Greene & Greene house on walkabout.

Scenes from our Skid Row history walk, in photos and video.

SUPPORT OUR WORK

If you enjoy all we do to celebrate and preserve Los Angeles history and would like to say thank you, please consider putting a little something into our digital tip jar. Your contributions are never obligatory, but always appreciated.

yrs,
Kim and Richard
Esotouric