150 Years of Pershing Square History... erased?

Gentle reader...

We like the idea of a green and welcoming Pershing Square as much as anyone, that's why we've advocated to restore the grim space to John Parkinson's beloved 1910 design. And last month, a simpler, but pleasant enough, scheme won the Pershing Square Renew competition.

There's just one problem with winning team Agence Ter's proposal to "radically flatten" the park: all the historic monuments appear to be missing. No Doughboy, no Beethoven, no Spanish American soldier, no plaques for General Pershing, no war canon, no history. This Pershing Square could be in Paris, or Disneyland, or anywhere at all.

According to Sara Hernandez in Councilman Jose Huizar's office, "Nothing is considered a cultural landmark or required to stay besides the statues which are public art and can be moved around the park or possibly placed elsewhere in the city."

We think that's no way to treat the city's oldest public park and its 150 years of history. The monuments are part of Pershing Square and they need to stay in Pershing Square, no matter what landscaping changes come down the pike.

Won't you please sign the petition to help send a message to the folks in charge of the park that Pershing Square's history matters and the monuments must stay?

Click here to learn about the individual monuments, including the magnificent 18th century "lost" Pershing Square cannon recently rediscovered in San Pedro. Let's bring it home, too!

We'll be back on the bus next Saturday, with Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice, a wild journey through the weird, gorgeous and sometimes deadly Downtown that we love. This Sunday, you'll find us in the teaching crime labs of Cal State L.A. hosting a forensic science seminar on Rituals: Sacred and Profane. Join us, do!

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RECENTLY TOURED

We wrapped up our annual Tom Waits bus tour with a pilgrimage to the writers' shrine in Skid Row's Indian Alley. Hear host David Smay's Take Two interview here.

LAVA'S FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR - SUN. 6/5

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 Rituals: Sacred & Profane benefits graduate level Criminalistics research. For more info, click here.

RECOMMENDED READING

Gloria Norris grew up with an oddball dad whose personality quirks inspired love, emulation and sheer terror in equal parts. Her utterly original memoir paints a picture of a two troubled New England families: her own, and the big shots across town, who throw everything away in crimes of passion. Gloria is a spunky, brainiac romantic with a sailor's mouth on her, and an unflinching eye for the torments that roiled the people she loves. She'll grow up to help bring Woody Allen's and Martin Scorsese's films to screen, and eventually make peace with her own demons in this funny, chilling book.

COMING SOON

LAVA's FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR - SUN. 6/5... "Rituals: Sacred and Profane," a four-hour presentation held at the teaching crime labs of Cal State Los Angeles. (For more info, click here.)

HOTEL HORRORS & MAIN STREET VICE - SAT. 6/11... 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.)

BLOOD & DUMPLINGS - SAT. 6/18... 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. Special on this tour: the secret diary of Vilma, El Monte's sassy Clifton's Cafeteria camera girl. Not frequently offered, you won't want to miss this ride. (Buy tickets here.)

WEIRD WEST ADAMS - SAT. 6/25... On this guided tour through the Beverly Hills of the early 20th Century, Crime Bus passengers thrill as Jazz Age bootleggers run amok, marvel at the Krazy Kafitz family's litany of murder-suicides, attempted husband slayings, Byzantine estate battles and mad bombings, visit the shortest street in Los Angeles (15' long Powers Place, with its magnificent views of the mansions of Alvarado Terrace), discover which fabulous mansion was once transformed into a functioning whiskey factory using every room in the house, and stroll the haunted paths of Rosedale Cemetery, site of notable burials (May K. Rindge, the mother of Malibu) and odd graveside crimes. Featured players include the most famous dwarf in Hollywood, mass suicide ringleader Reverend Jim Jones, wacky millionaires who can't control their automobiles, human mole bank robbers, comically inept fumigators, kids trapped in tar pits, and dozens of other unusual and fascinating denizens of early Los Angeles. (Buy tickets here.)

LAVA SUNDAY SALON / WALKING TOUR - SUN. 6/26... Our free cultural lecture series recently relaunched on the basement level of Grand Central Market. For the June Sunday Salon, Miriam Caldwell presents on her mother Vilma's secret 1950s diaries, documenting glamorous, opinionated adventures as a Clifton's Cafeteria camera girl and nightclub hopper. Following the Salon, a free Broadway on My Mind walking tour explores Hill Street. Due to limited space, reservations are required for both of these free events.

PASADENA CONFIDENTIAL - SAT. 7/9... 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 confidentialfiles 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.)

Additional upcoming tours: The Real Black Dahlia (7/16), Charles Bukowski's L.A. (7/23), Raymond Chandler's L.A. (7/30), South L.A. Road Trip (8/7), Boyle Heights & the San Gabriel Valley(8/13), The Lowdown on Downtown (8/20).

OUR HISTORIC L.A. PODCAST

In episode #110, we visit with Jean Bruce Poole, historic museum director of El Pueblo from 1977-2001 and with Don Swickard, whose family ran the Strand Theatre, a popular vaudeville and motion picture house in East Los Angeles from 1930-1952. Click here to tune in. New: find stories on the map!

AND FINALLY, LINKS

Can Main Street keep its cool?

A big loss for Hollywood history and preservation: RIP Bob Birchard.

A soldier comes home to Pershing Square.

Gustavo Turner goes in search of Raymond Chandler's flesh and blood Los Angeles with our map in hand, finds it on the Angels Flight steps.

Good news for L.A. historic preservation: 2 HPOZ staff positions gutted by Eric Garcetti were re-funded in the budget.

Weird tale of Montalban Theater blasting classical music to repel homeless sleepers on Vine St. (That's illegal.)

He seeks The Treasurer.

You have to look to see.

People who erroneously believe their fathers killer are fascinating. But Steve Hodel's hunch is also his tragedy.

Japanese-American Southern California history won't be demolished after all at historic Wintersburg.

It isn't often that gang violence takes out an historic structure. RIP to the pretty little house on Pleasant Avenue.

Getting muddy with our pal Susan Phillips, in search of hobo inscriptions on the L.A. River. (Dig her wildest find, JK's Tunnel, in 3-D.)

yrs,
Kim and Richard
Esotouric