Gentle reader,
On 2/5/2026, when the Cultural Heritage Commission met for the second and final time to consider declaring the Hollywood Center Motel a protected landmark, members of the nominating non-profit Hollywood Heritage filed into Room 1010 of Los Angeles City Hall with the demeanor of funeral attendees.
And who could blame them? After all, the central Edwardian-era house El Nido was no longer standing, victim of what may be a serial Hollywood arsonist and a rushed LAFD demolition.
In the immediate aftermath, much of the character defining street facing motel signage was stolen, presumably by collectors who figured if the property owner didn’t care about the place, they would “save” what they could.
Behind the breeze-block walls, the property was left wide open and unsecured for vandals and squatters to further wreck. It is still unsecured as we write this newsletter, more than three months later.
We didn’t envy Hollywood Heritage the chore of making one last impassioned plea that Hollywood Center Motel be declared a landmark.
Commission President Barry Milofsky and Office of Historic Resources staff had toured the property four days after the January 4 fire and LAFD demolition. The staff photos published in the updated case file were heartbreaking—and also provided an official record of the signs, just hours before they were stolen.
You could almost smell the place from the photos—and it didn’t smell like roses.
But the Cultural Heritage Commissioners, including newly seated member Laura Dominguez in her first meeting, were in no mood to slam the coffin shut.
And after hearing from concerned citizens making public comment (starting at 22:30 in the hearing, which you can watch on our video, or listen to in the higher quality City audio feed embedded above), including:
• Homeless services professional and Hollywood Heritage volunteer Jessica Sanchez, who said simply by the act of being left unsecured by an owner who wanted the historic buildings demolished, followed by the predictable fire and LAFD demolition, Hollywood Center Motel became a cultural landmark!
• Our Kim Cooper, who described how the property had been left unsecured to burn, and called for the CHC to demand an investigation into why the fire department demolished a supposedly “protected” and still standing historic structure on a Sunday morning, before the CHC could tour it. She also drew their attention to significant asbestos on the property and the possibility that City staff and Commission President Milofsky and the Hollywood community had been exposed to this dangerous material.
• Our Richard Schave, who likened the hearing to a Coroner’s Inquest
the commissioners moved to dismiss the staff recommendation that they “not declare the subject property an Historic-Cultural Monument per Los Angeles Administrative Code Chapter 9, Division 22, Article 1, Section 22.171.7.”
This rarely happens; the commissioners typically defer to the paid Planning Department staff that does the work of validating the increasingly elaborate nominations required by the City since Eric Garcetti became mayor in 2013.
The Cultural Heritage Commission is not a working commission, but one that is largely symbolic and toothless. This was abundantly clear as it sought to decide the future of a potential landmark that citizens had warned at the first hearing, in early December, would burn down if it was not secured.
Since charter reform stripped the CHC of its powers to independently declare landmarks, instead granting the appointed experts an advisory role with opinions sent on to City Council, where a confessed racketeer like Jose Huizar could “fix it in PLUM” for the benefit of his political donors, like he did with our Los Angeles Times landmark nomination, or an unindicted rat like Mitch O’Farrell could sabotage their Taix French Restaurant nomination by stripping it down to a few bits of salvaged junk.
Now that the demolition notices are on the restaurant and the contents have been auctioned off, the Taix debacle comes back to the CHC on Thursday 4/16 at 10am, and irked Angelenos are invited call or Zoom in, email or show up in person to ask the commissioners to reject property owner Holland Partner Group’s offensive proposal to store the restaurant’s billboard, cocktail sign and bar top in Orange County while the new apartment tower is being constructed.
Rallied by the newly launched Save Taix website, concerned citizens are encouraged to urge the commissioners to instead use their power to advocate for the win-win preservation solution that former councilmember Mitch O’Farrell killed when he told the Washington State developer it no longer needed to work with the Los Angeles Conservancy to find an adaptive reuse solution that preserved much of the beloved, historic building while adding apartment towers above and on the surface parking lot.
By making a mockery of the preservation ordinance and calling three insignificant relics tacked onto a new building sufficient to merit landmark designation, Mitch O’Farrell placed the developer under the direct authority of the CHC, and gave citizens a way to speak out and be heard and the commission the power to effect positive social change.
As Friends of Taix advocate and Silver Lake Heritage Trust President Carol Cetrone writes in her powerful letter to the CHC, a message echoed by dozens of other concerned Angelenos who have sent written public comment on Item #4:
I am writing as a concerned community member about the pending demolition of the Taix building at 1911 W Sunset Blvd (HCM No. 1227).
Taix is a true Los Angeles gem, not only as an excellent example of a classic Continental dining establishment, but also as the cultural hub it has been for decades. A true “public house” or pub, people from all walks of life are there every week, a testiment to LA’s diversity and the legacy that is Taix.
LADBS records show that on March 18, 2026, the developer filed two new demolition permits and eight sign removal permits for this site. Every permit shows “Historic monument” and “City Hist. Cultural Monument” as NOT CLEARED by City Planning. Despite this, building fixtures are already being auctioned off, and grading/shoring permits for the replacement building were approved on March 23, 2026.
I am asking:
1. That the Cultural Heritage Commission formally object to all demolition and sign removal permits and invoke the maximum Stay period (up to 180 days, extendable to 360).
2. That no permit clearance be granted until ALL Conditions of Approval are publicly documented as met — including the qualified preservation professional’s plan, the affordable housing covenant, and the demolition notification requirements.
3. That alternatives preserving the historic building alongside new housing be seriously evaluated during any stay period.
The City’s own Cultural Heritage Commission found this property significant to LA’s commercial identity. The current designation was narrowed by political intervention, not by lack of merit. The building can be saved AND housing can be built.
The 4/16/26 CHC agenda with instructions for participating in the meeting or emailing your comments is here.
Back to Hollywood Center Motel, and the February CHC hearing. The commissioners were visibly angry about the ongoing demolition by neglect and wanted to know what, if any, options existed for holding the property owner accountable for permitting an intact, eligible historic house to be burned and demolished before they could tour it.
They asked: was the property a good candidate for the Scorched Earth Ordinance, a penalty that was famously imposed on Geoffrey Palmer after he illegally demolished the last Victorian house standing on Bunker Hill in 2003, denying any new building permits for five years?
But this property owner claimed only to want to demolish all the residential buildings on the parcel, not to build anything new there, which made it unclear if that punishment would apply. No mention was made of how scorched earth would make the cleared lot less valuable as a potential flip.
It was troubling to see how the Los Angeles commission charged with designating historic landmarks appeared unfamiliar with the policy tools the City can apply to protect places suffering from intentional demolition by neglect.
These appointed experts don’t seem to be members of the 21st century Los Angeles preservation community, a collection of advocates who regularly debate the challenges and strategies while seeking paths forward to preserve and protect historic affordable housing and the tenants who call it home, to foster treasured legacy businesses and to stabilize vacant, derelict, unsecured buildings of all sizes.
But when the uninformed commissioners turned to the supposed public policy experts in the room for help, the civil servants from the City Planning Department and City Attorney’s office were unprepared to offer any useful advice for how the commission could wield its power.
It was all terribly convenient and infuriating.
Yes, by speaking out as a fierce preservation advocate, any commissioner risks triggering filing of the pre-signed resignation letter held by the Mayor’s office. But if this board is not made up of fierce preservation advocates with the courage to speak out in cases when heritage, history and community are being wronged, why does the CHC even exist?
We think it would be an honor to be canned for representing the will of the people.
We were reminded of the tragic failure in March 2025 to schedule an emergency hearing on 24 hours notice to potentially landmark the demolition threatened Boney Island Treehouse, after staff wrongly advised the CHC that it must wait two weeks to meet again—even though they knew that property owner Rick Polizzi was going to demolish the treehouse, to avoid prosecution by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office, in 48 hours.
(Parenthetically, Boney Island could have been saved had CD4 councilmember Nithya Raman initiated a landmark nomination, a step which would have stopped the absurd demands from LADBS that a playhouse for kids up in a tree be inspected and permitted as an inhabitable ADU. But Raman didn’t do that. And commissioner Diane Kanner, who spoke up for the treehouse, was removed from the CHC shortly afterwards.)
Exactly one month had passed from the initial CHC hearing on December 4, when the commissioners took the Hollywood Center Motel property under consideration after hearing public comment warning of ongoing demolition by neglect, to the preventable destruction of the El Nido residence on January 4.
After an open debate on the dais, with advice from staff and questions for Hollywood Heritage and the property owner’s rep, the commission proposed their own rewrite to the prospective monument nomination: they wanted to designate the breeze-block wall and the remaining signage!
From the audience, we were happily surprised by their enthusiasm for landmarking, but also aghast.
Hollywood Center Motel is a large compound that was until January 4, 2026 comprised of a 1904 residence, a ring of 1920s-era bungalow units and a 1950s kidney shaped swimming pool, with 1950s walls and signs on the Sunset Boulevard property line. Now the central residence and easternmost bungalow were demolished, and much of the signage stolen.
But the 1920s bungalows, while neglected and vandalized, are mostly still intact—and they are vacant, rent stabilized housing that could be used by Angelenos. (Zimas no longer has them listed as RSO units, but they were when the demolition permits were initially applied for, and Hugo Soto-Martinez the CD13 councilmember was opposed to demolition of RSO units for no project.)
The bungalows were called out in the landmark nomination, and deserved to be considered on their own merits. Yet the commissioners only honed in on preserving walls and signs, and with public comment having already happened, there was no opportunity for concerned citizens to ask for more.
That opportunity comes today at 2pm at the PLUM Committee hearing, discussed in our last newsletter. It is sure to be a lively hearing that will also include Angelenos for Historic Preservation appearing under protest, in order to retain their rights to appeal the Barry Building demolition debacle.
You wouldn’t know it if you read the papers, or whatever passes for papers in this benighted era, but the City seeks to completely gut the preservation ordinance by permitting the billionaire Munger family to demolish a protected landmark it has held vacant for years for (allegedly) no new project.
If they get away with it, Angelenos can expect many more useful historic buildings like the Hollywood Center Motel to be left wide open, with the gas and water on, to be torched for real estate speculator convenience.
Who says historic preservation is boring? We think these public hearings are the last true light of democracy in Los Angeles, a valuable opportunity to hear from and connect with our most passionate and informed citizen advocates, and an environment in which blatant public corruption can be exposed years before prosecutors catch up.
Maybe if more Angelenos listened to, and worked with, the preservation community, we could identify and eliminate the crooks in City Hall before they destroy everything we love about this place.
So if you love Los Angeles and want to rid it of rats, join us at PLUM at 2pm today and at the CHC at 10am on Thursday, and tell ten friends!
Saturday’s Early Hollywood’s Silent Hollywood Legends walking tour takes us in the footsteps of silent comedy legends Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy and Harry Langdon. Stand where the stars and their cameramen stood as we celebrate the artistry of early cinema and the Westlake District time capsule locations where movie magic was made. This tour was written in collaboration with silent cinema sleuth John Bengtson (1957-2026) and is dedicated to him. Join us, do!
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
Are you on social media? We’re on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, Substack Notes, TikTok, Nextdoor and Reddit sharing preservation news as it happens. New: some of these newsletters are on Medium, too.
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
• Early Hollywood’s Silent Comedy Legends (4/18) • Downtown Los Angeles is for Book Lovers (4/25) • Highland Park Arroyo (5/2) • Charles Bukowski’s Westlake (5/7) • The Run: Gay Downtown History (5/23) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (5/30) • The Real Black Dahlia (6/6) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (6/13) • Know Your Downtown LA: Bradbury Building, Basements of Yore and the Dutch Chocolate Shop (6/20) • Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness (Sunday, 6/21) • Westlake Park (6/27)
CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS
For most of its history, the Bradbury was an ordinary office building, just more beautiful than most, with businesses that could be accessed by stairs or elevator. There was an art gallery, restaurant and antique shop. The Christmas parties were legendary. We wish everyone could see this.
Councilmember Curren Price prosecution bombshell: in off-the-record chatter between attorneys at Friday’s arraignment, we heard Deputy DA Casey Higgins say “proffer”(!). But if any pre-trial cooperation deal has been offered to the councilmember, it was not presented to the judge. Next court date is 6/5.
Normally we’d gripe about cheap vinyl signage slapped on a National Register landmark, but any signs of life in the commercial spaces at the locked up Aztec Hotel are worth cheering.
We stood with our friend Bob Baker when he said he was defrauded of his theater and feared his life’s work would be lost. (Here’s the 3-D scan of the original theater that was targeted for speculative development.) But the Marionettes are still dancing! And now their human pals are about to buy their new home in Highland Park. You can help!
More on the changing ownership of Clifton’s Cafeteria: here’s the lease ad with information about what’s available, including a 3D scan that lets you explore the former cafeteria and nightclubs, and go backstage into offices and kitchen. Listen to Brother Pancake: bring it back!
Ex-LADBS GM Ray Chan’s new attorney Davina T. Chen seeks financial information from cooperating co-conspirator George Chiang, who controlled Synergy account used to bribe Jose Huizar to approve hotel projects. Why hasn’t L.A. moved to seize these funds?
Walker’s Cafe news: San Pedro locals and councilman Tim McOsker told the Zoning Administrator to protect the Chinatown location and community landmark from a backyard mansion plan. The City ignored them, illegally hid the determination, sending no notice to interested parties. Appeal!
Adrian E. Alvarez is excited about Spencer Pratt’s mayoral run, and is using AI to craft musical messages pitting the Palisades fire survivor against the City Hall machine. He objects to the eviction of the Hernandez family’s legacy burro photo op business La Carreta from Olvera Street. Listen and weep.
Kynd words for Esotouric from the postmodern medieval Chaucer Doth Tweet account on Bluesky: Ther are various groups/people that go arounde Los Angeles fiercelye protectinge everye landmark, famous buildinge, and former celebritye home. Ich am cheeringe these people on wyth all myne hearte. The passioun, commitment, expertyse, and sheer determinacioun ys awesome and impressive. (We replied: Gramercy, gracious sir! But ‘tis not everye place one fights for, save those few that vibrate with significance and charm, especially those that serve the people as humble shelter or as gathering places where they may forget their troubles, however briefly.)
