Remembering Liz Mooradian, who preserved Skid Row history when the old Union Rescue Mission was demolished

Gentle reader...

The stars over Los Angeles shine a little less brightly tonight, because our friend Liz Mooradian has died.

For many years, Liz worked as an administrator at the Union Rescue Mission, starting in its old home on Main Street next to St. Vibiana's Cathedral, then for more than two decades at the new building on San Pedro Street. During packing for the move from the old building, she expressed interest in some old photographs that a co-worker found on a tall shelf. Soon, whenever anything that looked old turned up, everyone knew to bring it to Liz' office.

A natural archivist, she understood the history of the Union Rescue Mission was significant, and that it needed to be preserved. She boxed everything, and it went with her. In her spare time once in the new building, she organized a dedicated History Room, with low file cabinets filled with photographs, radio show transcripts, newspaper clippings and artifacts. Treasured among them were a few precious bricks from the old building, which had been demolished soon after the move. She charmed construction workers to get on the site.

It was about twenty years after Liz saved the archives that we found them, and her. Kim was reading Helga Bender Henry's 1955 history of the Union Rescue Mission, Mission on Main Street, and recognized that the book could not have been written without access to documents dating back to the charity's 19th century beginnings. We contacted the URM to ask if the public could access their archive. A long pause, and the person on the other end said, "I think you're looking for Liz."

Soon, we were sitting with Liz in her neat History Room, growing increasingly amazed as she walked us through this lost history of early Los Angeles. Here were the faces of thousands of people who had passed through the Union Rescue Mission over the decades, in many cases accompanied by powerful personal testimonials as told on the in-house radio program, marketing materials, some early glass plate negatives, and even a rare example of color film shot on old Skid Row, the only surviving copy of the docudrama Of Scrap and Steel, which was melting into vinegar when Liz sent it off to be digitized.

In the years that followed, we were honored to be able to share some of these archival documents through the In SRO Land blog, and at rooftop film screenings. It was moving to see how happy it made Liz to share her archives with people who found them as fascinating as she did.

And although Liz won't be here to see it, we hope one day soon that the archives will made more accessible to scholars and others who can learn from all the good works of the city's oldest homeless charity. In a time when so many are living on the street, we sincerely believe that studying the policies of the past can make a positive difference to the future.

Thank you, dear Liz, for all the rich history you kept out of the dustbin! We're so glad we get to help tell the URM's story, and yours.

* * *

Wondering what's new? How about the 125th episode of our You Can't Eat the Sunshine podcast, a March LAVA Sunday Salon casting a fresh eye on the Los Angeles Mall, and May's forensic science seminar on the Grim Sleeper serial killer case?

We're back on the bus on Saturday with a cultural history tour of Boyle Heights & Monterey Park. Sunday, it's a free (with RSVP) LAVA Sunday Salon on the theme of Poem Noir. Join us, do!

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RECENTLY TOURED

The maidens of the Jergins Trust pillars, salvaged from a great, lost Long Beach landmark, now wink at commuters from an on-ramp of the 710.

LAVA'S FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR - SUN. 3/4

Four times a year, we gather in the teaching crime labs of Cal State L.A. to explore the history and future of American forensic science. On March 4, join us for Wrongful Convictions: Investigatory Case Studies from the California Innocence Project. Your $36.50 ticket benefits graduate level Criminalistics research. Next: the Grim Sleeper serial killer investigation (5/20).

COMING SOON

BOYLE HEIGHTS & MONTEREY PARK: THE HIDDEN HISTORIES OF L.A.'S MELTING POTS - SAT. 2/24... Come on a century's social history tour through the transformation of neighborhoods, punctuated with immersive stops to sample the varied cultures that make our changing city so beguiling. Voter registration, citizenship classes, Chicano Moratorium, walkouts, blow-outs, anti-Semitism, adult education, racial covenants, boycotts, The City Beautiful, Exclusion Acts and Immigration Acts, property values, xenophobia, and delicious dumplings--all are themes which will be addressed on this lively excursion. This whirlwind social history tour will include: The Vladeck Center, Hollenbeck Park, Evergreen Cemetery, The Venice Room, El Encanto & Cascades Park, Divine's Furniture and Wing Hop Fung. (Buy tickets here.)

THE LAVA SUNDAY SALON - SUN. 2/25... Our free cultural lecture and walking tour series returns to the basement level of Grand Central Market. Join poet Suzanne Lummis for an afternoon's sleuthing the mysteries and thrills of the Poem Noir genre, culminating in a curated reading in the Bradbury Building. Free, reservation required. (To RSVP, click here.)

ECHO PARK BOOK OF THE DEAD - SAT. 3/3... On a crime bus tour honoring the lost souls who wander the hills and byways of the "streetcar suburbs" that hug Sunset Boulevard, see seemingly ordinary houses 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.)

FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR AT CAL STATE LOS ANGELES - SUN. 3/4... Professor Donald Johnson hosts a very special program, "Wrongful Convictions: Investigatory Case Studies from the California Innocence Project." Your $36.50 ticket benefits graduate level Criminalistics research. (For more info, or to reserve your seat, click here.)

EASTSIDE BABYLON - SAT. 3/10... Go East, young ghoul, to Boyle Heights, where the Night Stalker was captured and to Evergreen, L.A.'s oldest cemetery. To East L.A., where a deranged radio shop employee made mince meat of his boss and bride in the shadow of the world's biggest tamale. To Commerce, where one small neighborhood's myriad crimes will shock and surprise. To Montebello, scene of a horrifying case of child murder. That's Eastside Babylon, our most unhinged crime bus tour. (Buy tickets here.)

39TH ANNUAL VINTAGE PAPERBACK SHOW - SUN. 3/18... Our Kim Cooper will be signing copies of her acclaimed mystery novel The Kept Girl, based on a real 1920s Los Angeles cult murder investigation. She'll also have copies of the new Raymond Chandler map, and How To Find Old Los Angeles. And the show is simply packed with dealers peddling the most depraved and delightful exploitation fiction, artwork and magazines. For more info, click here.

PASADENA CONFIDENTIAL - SAT. 3/24... 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. 3/31... 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.)

THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA - SAT. 4/7... 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 usually sells out, so don't wait to reserve. (Buy tickets here.)

THE LOWDOWN ON DOWNTOWN - SAT. 4/14... This is not a tour about beautiful buildings—although beautiful buildings will be all around you. This is not a tour about brilliant architects--although we will gaze upon their works and marvel. The Lowdown on Downtown is a tour about urban redevelopment, public policy, protest, power and the police. It is a revealing history of how the New Downtown became an "overnight sensation" after decades of quiet work behind the scenes by public agencies and private developers. Come discover the real Los Angeles, the city even natives don't know. Features a visit to the Dutch Chocolate Shop, a tiled wonderland not open to the public. (Sorry, tour is sold out with waiting list. Stay tuned for the next date.)

Additional upcoming tours: Blood & Dumplings (4/21), Charles Bukowski’s Los Angeles (4/28), Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles (5/5), Special event: Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits’ L.A. (5/12), Hollywood! (5/19), Weird West Adams (6/2).

OUR HISTORIC L.A. PODCAST

In Episode #125: a last visit to the Caravan Book Store to talk with second generation bookman Leonard Bernstein, plus public policy maven Donald Spivack on the two biggest challenges facing Los Angeles. Click here to tune in. New: find stories on the map!

AND FINALLY, LINKS

The preservation of the most beautiful gas station on the Central Coast stymied by toxic waste, bankruptcy and sneaky politics. (And Beanie Babies are in there, somewhere.)

With Malibu's surfing zone now on the National Register, maybe the state will invest in proper restoration of the magnificent tiled Adamson House, which needs some love.

Outrage and organizing as the Port of L.A.’s redevelopment arm breaks promises made to the Ports O' Call tenants and San Pedro community.

The lost commercial culture of South Central Los Angeles revealed in the Negro business guides preserved by California’s oldest citizen.

Censorship and trolling in Kern County history Facebook group lead Bakersfield photojournalist John Harte to withdraw his images.

A visit to Verdugo Hills Cemetery on the 40th anniversary of the mudslide that very nearly destroyed it.

So glad we visited the National Register town square in Russellville, KY before these demolitions began. Boutique hotels are supposed to go in old buildings, not replace them!

San Gabriel, rich with history, gets L.A. Conservancy recognition for beefing up its outdated preservation policies.

Fans of Pereira & Luckman rejoice: an LAX people mover project puts the neglected, space age Theme Building back in the spotlight!

Video vault: The French have a certain way with our fair city... Excerpt from "Anatomy of Los Angeles (1969)."

Down in Norco, history lovers are making progress on gaining expanded national recognition for the fascinating, much maligned Norconian Resort Supreme property.

yrs,
Kim and Richard
Esotouric