Urgent Alert: Ask Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez to Save Gwynn Wilson's 1932 Olympics Cottage

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Urgent Alert: Ask Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez to Save Gwynn Wilson's 1932 Olympics Cottage

Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles

Oct 31, 2024

Transcript

Gentle reader,

Here’s a scary story for Hallowe’en in Los Angeles: the prettiest little Edwardian duplex cottage at 109-111 South Union Avenue in historic Filipinotown has been empty for years and repeatedly threatened with demolition for nothing at all.

In April, after concerned community member Jamal Toppi raised the alarm about a tapped city power line running across the street and into the vacant building, we encouraged folks who care about it and the fire risk to those squatting inside and nearby to contact the city.

The house was immediately secured and fenced, which gave us hope that the property owner might finally fix it up for occupancy, or make it available for a preservation minded buyer to either restore on site, or move somewhere else.

But six months later, there is a brand new demolition notification posted behind the fence! The permit application is perplexing: it states there are two buildings on the parcel and only building #2 in the front would be demolished.

According to the city’s ZIMAS portal, the parcel encompasses multiple addresses at the corner of Beverly and Union: 101, 103, 105, 109 and 111 South Union and 1700 and 1704 West Beverly.

Included among this riot of addresses are two vintage units that could provide shelter for Angelenos in place, or could be moved to another location. The “rear” building #1 appears to refer to the commercial storefronts at 1700 and 1704 West Beverly, which the city’s historic resource report Survey LA identifies as formerly home to Morong Café, with the parcel needing evaluation/reevaluation to determine historic eligibility.

Because the property falls within the borders of the Westlake Recovery Community Redevelopment Area, City Planning has the discretion to reject a demolition permit. We believe in a case like this, when there is no new project planned and a useful, historic structure is threatened, they should do so.

It’s more than just another good L.A. building suffering demolition by neglect: in the early 1930s, the cottage was home to Gwynn Wilson, a legendary USC sportsman who was General Manager for the 1932 Olympic Games and for whom the USC Student Union is named, and to seven other people in the Bemis-Wilson-DeVoin family, ages 2 months to 89 years.

Let’s save this cottage. Please take a moment to call or send an email asking Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez to step in and protect this historic property and its two naturally occurring affordable units by halting the proposed demolition for nothing.

Here’s how: contact Field Deputy Ben Cassorla in the Office of Eunisses Hernandez (CD1) by phone 213-473-7001, or by email at bencassorla@gmail.com (and if emailing, cc ken.Bernstein@lacity.org in Office of Historic Resources).

A suggested message, which you can customize to reflect your own thoughts and sign, can read something like this:

“I care about the historic, long vacant duplex cottage at 109-111 South Union Avenue in Historic Filipinotown that was home to USC’s Gwynn Wilson and don’t want to see it demolished for nothing. I am asking councilmember Hernandez to reject the proposed demolition and ask Office of Historic Resources to investigate if the cottage merits landmarking for its association with the 1932 Olympic Games. Also, please explore options for moving instead of destroying it. This building is in the Westlake Recovery Community Redevelopment Area, and the city has the discretion to say no to demolition and to find a preservation solution.”

It is only one small building, but it is such a beautiful contributor to the neighborhood, it’s desperately needed housing, and it helps to tell our city’s story. We think this place is worth saving, and would be so grateful if you helped by sending a message to the decision makers listed above and passing this alert along to others who care.

This Saturday’s tour takes us to the Westlake Park neighborhood, rich in gorgeous architecture and some truly wild tales. You’ll learn about legendary booksellers and influential art academies, see where cult leader Jim Jones lost his cool, visit a little known monument to detective novelist Raymond Chandler, learn where a bomb was set for the publisher of the Los Angeles Times (the theme of next Saturday’s tour with Detective Mike Digby), thrill to the offbeat goings on at the Elks’ Lodge, mourn two mysteriously mummified infants and check in on one of L.A.’s oldest gay bars (the demolition threatened Silver Platter). We don’t give this one very often—you won’t want to miss this time travel trip.

Press clips: We’re featured in Wired talking about the allure of dark tourism, and Kim contributed to LAist’s Spooky LA series for Morning Edition with insights into the Hotel Cecil and Black Dahlia murder case (look for the arrow at those last two links to hear the radio version).

Yours for Los Angeles,

Kim & Richard

Esotouric

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