Parker Center in the crosshairs as Los Angeles City Council gets into the real estate development business

Gentle reader...

When the Cultural Heritage Commission recommends that a building is made a protected city landmark, City Council usually follows their expert advice.

But last month, citing a history of racist policing by its LAPD tenants and opining that it is not a great building, Councilman Jose Huizar put forward a motion to demolish Welton Becket's iconic mid-century police administration building, Parker Center (1955). The motion passed without much debate.

Of course, Parker Center needs to go if Los Angeles politicians are to reshape the south side of City Hall, erecting new city office space and partnering with private developers to bring in housing, hotels and retail. A massive plan to do just that has now been quietly approved.

On Sunday, for our free (with RSVP) monthly LAVA Sunday Salon and walking tour, we're going to dig deep into Welton Becket and Parker Center, painting a portrait of one of Southern California's most influential architects and celebrating his most endangered civic building. Contrary to Councilman Huizar's claim, it is one of Becket's best works.

Is Parker Center doomed? Maybe, maybe not. It's just been announced that Los Angeles is facing a large budget deficit—ironically, including a number of costly LAPD legal settlements—which might put this expensive project on ice. Especially since the Los Angeles Conservancy's independent analysis states that it will cost $50,000,000 more to demolish and rebuild versus adaptive reuse, as is planned for this long-derelict Becket tower in Panorama City.

The best thing we can do for Parker Center is to shine a light on it. So join us on Sunday and get to know this endangered mid-century masterpiece.

Newly published is episode #117 of our You Can't Eat the Sunshine podcast, SeaView, a Mid-Century Time Modern Capsule on the Palos Verdes Penninsula. Preview the April 8 Palos Verdes tour when you tune in.

We're on the bus on Saturday with a (sorry, sold out) Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice crime bus tour. Next Saturday, it's Echo Park Book of the Dead, a time travel trip through the dark side of the streetcar suburbs Join us, do!

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RECENTLY TOURED

On our day trip to Anza-Borrego, we met a cactus who thinks she is a sunflower.

LAVA'S FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR - SUN. 4/23

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. On April 23, 2017, join us for From The Crime Lab To The Coroner's Office, an afternoon of historic murders and modern day investigation techniques. Your $36.50 ticket benefits graduate level Criminalistics research. Click here to reserve.

RECOMMENDED READING

Planning to hit the road and experience the season's desert flower "superbloom" for yourself? Best Day Hikes is a handy pocket guide to exploring Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, including the uncrowded Mountain Palm Springs loop, which features some spectacular shaded groves and a trickling stream full of fool's gold. Literary tourists may wish to route their return via El Centro, to see the Nathanael West death site.

COMING SOON

HOTEL HORRORS & MAIN STREET VICE - SAT. 3/25... 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. (Sold out with waiting list. More info here.)

THE LAVA SUNDAY SALON & BROADWAY ON MY MIND WALKING TOUR - SUN. 3/26... Our free cultural lecture series recently relaunched on the basement level of Grand Central Market with a walk to follow. This month, our focus is the endangered architectural and cultural landmark Parker Center. Come explore this mid-century Welton Becker masterpiece while you still can! Free, reservation required.

ESOTOURIC PRESENTS AT LOS ANGELES BREAKFAST CLUB - WEDS. 3/29... We are honored to present an illustrated lecture on our offbeat Southern California history research at the legendary Los Angeles Breakfast Club, one of the city's oldest cultural social clubs. This will be followed by a book signing, featuring Kim’s newest title, How To Find Old Los Angeles, and other historic books and maps. Attendance is free for first time guests, more info here.

ECHO PARK BOOK OF THE DEAD - SAT. 4/1... 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. Featuring the Hillside Strangler, the Bat Man's Love Nest and a visit to Sister Aimee Semple McPherson's exquisite Parsonage, now a museum. (Buy tickets here.)

PALOS VERDES: ANCIENT AND MODERN - SAT. 4/8... On this Special Event tour celebrating our 10th anniversary as a tour company, join us on a deep dive into coastal California lore. From the Spanish Colonial Revival romance of Malaga Cove to Paul R. Williams' jazzy 1960s SeaView tract homes, from Frank Lloyd Wright associate Aaron G. Green's organic architecture to evidence of ancient plantations, you can expect the unexpected and a delightful cast of guest speakers. Sorry, no discounts accepted on this Special Event tour. (Learn more and buy tickets here.)

THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA - SAT. 4/15... 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. This tour always sells out, so don't wait to reserve. (Buy tickets here.)

FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR AT CAL STATE LOS ANGELES - SUN. 4/23... Professor Donald Johnson hosts "From The Crime Lab To The Coroner's Office," featuring author Brad Schreiber's historic crime research and an introduction to crime scene investigations. Your $36.50 ticket benefits graduate level Criminalistics research. (Buy tickets here.)

Additional upcoming tours: Charles Bukowski's L.A. (4/22), Raymond Chandler's L.A. (4/29), Blood & Dumplings (5/6), Hollywood! (5/13), Weird West Adams (5/20), Special Event: Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits’ L.A. (6/3), Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice (6/10) and Special Event: Desert Visionaries: Llano del Rio, Antelope Valley Indian Museum & Aldous Huxley’s Pearblossom Ranch (6/17).

OUR HISTORIC L.A. PODCAST

Back from hiatus! In Episode #117: SeaView, a Mid-Century Time Modern Capsule on the Palos Verdes Penninsula, we talk with resident-historians Price Morgan and Larry Paul, and architect and historian Alan Hess, about this remarkable subdivision by Paul R. Williams. Click here to tune in. New: find stories on the map!

AND FINALLY, LINKS

Even the New York Times digs Angels Flight’s return.

On the Hotel Californian neon beat: Curbed tries to get to the bottom of the Diane Keaton sign snatch caper... Neon artisan Paul Greenstein talks about bringing the Hotel Californian sign back from the brink... and here's video of the big day's celebrations, featuring neon and vintage hotel lore from Paul Greenstein and Nathan Marsak.

In a hidden nook of Angel City Brewery there’s a marvelous early Ernest Batchelder tile installation.

A bookshop cat’s tale.

The Sanborn caper, a legendary dumpster dive.

Altadena just got a little weirder.

Memories of a teeming El Sereno creek ecosystem, lost to the 710 and Cal State LA expansion.

A new ghost in the stacks.

We’re honored to represent the 1940s in a swell L.A. Magazine list: 100 Places Where You Can Experience Retro Los Angeles.

A proposal to kill the National Endowment for the Humanities endangers our beloved California newspaper scans project.

Phooey on Brunswick, who shuttered the Egypto-Googie Covina Bowl a day early and broke a lot of hearts.

Long Beach politicos fiddled while the Queen Mary rusted through.

An Esotouric day trip to scope out what’s blooming in the desert of Anza-Borrego... But you don’t have to leave home to be astonished by springtime.

As Rocketdyne is demolished, we lament the lack of civic vision to preserve space age history. When the Downey Space Plant fell, we were there to mourn.

Help save Frank Sinatra’s motion picture bungalow from the wrecking ball.

Condolences to the family and friends of Mark Baumer, killed while walking barefoot across America to raise consciousness about climate change. Mark was part of the Esotouric community when he lived in LA.

yrs,
Kim and Richard
Esotouric