Gentle reader,
We have learned a thing or two, while seeking to be good Angelenos, heading to court to document important proceedings that would otherwise occur with scant public review, to be a trusted voice for the preservation of cultural heritage and reactivation of derelict, cool places that are suffering from a lack of stewardship.
But if we had to settle on just one insight, it’s this: the only thing that can make a rogue government behave itself is a lawsuit.
We’re seeing this on a local and state level as anxious, arrogant entities scramble to provide some tangible benefit to Palisades Fire victims, as their class action lawyers rack up successful rulings.
The fights we’ve monitored, and sometimes been part of, are far smaller ones than the loss of an entire community founded in the 1920s. But in microcosm, we see very similar scenes play out, and small heartbreaks magnified to fill the sky.
It’s been painful to watch well-meaning, naive Angelenos come back, again and again, begging their elected and appointed officials to work with them in good faith to fix simple, serious problems.
More painful is seeing these folks grow jaded, give up, stop trying, leave town.
The most valuable resource in Los Angeles is the good will and brilliance of our citizens, a treasure that the current crew in City Hall treats with contempt.
When Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell sabotaged the community initiated landmark designation for Taix French Restaurant, creating a dangerous precedent that could legally transform any landmark into a few scraps of salvaged wood and signage, we waited for the large preservation non-profits and community organizations to join in scrappy Silver Lake Heritage Trust’s legal battle.
That never happened, leaving SLHT to fight for Taix and all it stands for alone. In 2023, they lost.
And now, three years later, Taix will soon close, and the charming 1920s buildings with their 1960s remodel be smashed and sent to the dump.
But we’ve heard whispers from Altadena folks that they’d like to save Taix if they can, so recently we shot a sidewalk video sending that sweet idea out into the air, in hopes that it might land on receptive ears.
Popping up the middle are a few upsetting comments from when the Taix Instagram account got into it with dismayed longtime patrons on a January 24 post about the pending closure from The EastsiderLA.
It didn’t feel good for us to get tagged by the restaurant and yelled at for not being happy that a place we love was about to get demolished. Taix’ contentious comments were later deleted, but we took a few screenshots, and you can get a sense of the others from the replies in the thread.
Just like with city government, where elected and appointed officials would rather stubbornly push their own unpopular agendas than collaborate with the community, fourth generation owner Mike Taix has turned his back on Echo Park and on all who love his family’s business—we think to his own detriment.
So instead of a cool adaptive reuse project, with the landmarked venue on the ground floor of a unique tower, Angelenos are being asked to swallow something ugly, something that doesn’t reflect the community or the history at all, and to accept a precedent that will certainly harm more landmarks in the future.
Also in the video is an alternative design proposal from Rocky Schenck, director of some of the most beautiful music videos of all time. Schenck’s concept retains the facade of the demolition threatened restaurant, expands retail space to the west and builds French-inspired towers above and behind.
We wish Mike Taix and his development partners in City Hall and Washington State had been open to discussing ideas like this one. Maybe it’s not too late to go back to the drawing board and find a way to keep Taix while expanding its footprint. Such a change of course would be a big step towards earning back the trust and respect of the neighborhood, and give us all more reason to anticipate the promised return of something called Taix inside the new development.
And if the historic building must be demolished, why not give it away it to Altadena to replace one of the thousands of commercial structures lost in the Eaton Fire?
Because a place like Taix isn’t just brick and wood and plaster and neon and carpet and bar tops and chandeliers—it’s a part of our souls. And for so many Angelenos, Taix remains a place we can visit and spend spiritual time with family and friends who are no longer alive, enjoying things they liked to eat and drink, in an atmosphere where time stands still.
If it’s destroyed, so is an irreplaceable part of us all. And it doesn’t need to happen.
Taix is still here into March. Please visit, make memories, tip well, think good thoughts. And if you happen to have a vacant lot on Lake or another main drag in the Eaton Fire scar, try making nice with the hothead who runs the taixfrench Instagram handle. Maybe you can make a deal that soothes a lot of broken hearts!
Did you forget to cook up something sweet for your sweetie for Valentine’s Day? Why not join us on a time travel ramble up and over Angelino Heights, along the magical spine of Carroll Avenue and into the alleys and side streets to discover a fascinating community packed with Victorian charm and oddball lore?
And we’ve filled out our tour calendar through June, including a March 28 date for the very popular Know Your Downtown L.A., featuring a rare visit to the tiled Dutch Chocolate Shop. We’d sure love to see you there.
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
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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
• Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (2/14) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown L.A. (2/21) • Weird West Adams & Elmer McCurdy Museum Visit (2/28) • Film Noir / Real Noir (3/7) • Franklin Village Old Hollywood (3/14) • Bunker Hill, Dead and Alive (3/21) • Know Your Downtown L.A.: Bradbury Building, Basements of Yore & the Dutch Chocolate Shop (3/28) • Christine Sterling & Leo Politi: Angels of Los Angeles (4/4) • John Fante’s Downtown L.A. (4/11) • 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) • Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness (Sunday, 6/21) • Westlake Park (6/27)
