Gentle reader,
Thanks to all of you who responded to our urgent message about yesterday’s PLUM Committee hearing on a secret settlement between the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office and Catholic Charities—a deal that might mean demolition for the B’nai B’rith Lodge / Teamsters Hall (S. Tilden Norton, 1923) at 846 South Union Avenue. Your emails submitted to the public record are powerful demands for government transparency and respect for the past and we love to see them.
Thanks, too, to the Los Angeles Conservancy, which issued an Action Alert for its social media followers as the PLUM hearing was starting. Unfortunately, PLUM has decided it will only take public comment from people who schlep down to City Hall, so many who wanted their voices to be heard were limited to sending an email or clicking “like.”
But we did go to City Hall, with our preservation pals Father Dylan Littlefield and Steven Luftman, and the embedded video in this post shows our public comment to the PLUM Committee members—comments that were a bit more tart than planned, because PLUM Chair Marqueece Harris-Dawson began the meeting by announcing that there would be no discussion of the secret settlement, and it would simply be bundled with other matters to be voted on on the consent calendar!
In other words, the fix was in… (continues below)
Update 2/26/2024: The Vedanta Society has put video of their square unveiling ceremony online, which we appreciate because our cell phone video of the events mysteriously didn’t upload to the cloud. You’ll find our friend Rev. Dylan Littlefield’s benediction around 25 minutes into the program, along with a few words from Richard at the request of Josef Siroky, the city staffer who coordinated installation of the honorary plaque.
Original post continues: Our documentation of the B’nai B’rith portion of the meeting is particularly valuable because in addition to banning the telephonic and video call participation that most other public meetings allow, PLUM hides its controversial land use decision making behind an audio-only YouTube stream, making it difficult for members of the public to know who is speaking and removing all visual evidence of facial expressions and gestures from the record.
After three PLUM members—Jose Huizar, Mitch Englander and Curren Price—were charged with public corruption, and a fourth—current member John “City Staffer B” Lee—implicated in Englander’s crimes, you’d think they’d make an effort to look clean, but Los Angeles City Council prefers to double down on dirty tricks.
As expected after Harris-Dawson’s announcement, the five PLUM members unanimously voted to approve the secret deal, with no discussion and no public scrutiny. It will next be heard quite soon at full City Council, where we will again advocate for this matter of public interest to be shared with the public before another vote is made.
There is no reason under the law or City Charter that the basic facts of the settlement is being kept secret from the public.
Why the rush? Because the City is racing to approve the settlement so that Deputy City Attorney Lucy Atwood can satisfy Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant. The judge has directed the City and Catholic Charities to bring him an approved deal at the next status hearing on March 12 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. If they fail to do so, he will order a bench trial to decide Catholic Charities’ Petition for Writ of Mandate, and the decision will be taken out of the City’s hands entirely.
You can help save B’nai B’rith and get the facts of the matter shared with the public. Please continue to submit your public comments demanding that the deal be made public to the Council File, by clicking NEW at the link.
Below is a sample email (which you can customize with your own words):
Dear City Councilmembers, I care about the historic B’nai B’rith Lodge at 846 South Union Avenue, a landmark for the Jewish and Labor communities where the Teamsters Union was integrated, and thank City Planning staff for refusing to grant the demolition permit. Please table any discussions of a proposed settlement between property owner Catholic Charities and the City Attorney until the agreement is made public, and hold your discussion of potential demolition of this cultural and architectural landmark that is covered in priceless Batchelder tiles in an open forum where citizens can participate. Thank you. (name, neighborhood or city)
We’ll continue to keep you posted about what’s happening with B’nai B’rith, and your next opportunity to schlep down to City Hall and make in-person comments, so stay tuned.
But the City of Los Angeles doesn’t have it in for every spiritual, architectural and cultural landmark, just some of them. And our friends at the Vedanta Society of Southern California invite you to join them tomorrow, Thursday, February 22 at 4:30pm at their Hollywood Temple, for the dedication of an official Department of Transportation sign designating the intersection of Vedanta Terrace and Vine Street as Vedanta Square, with the inscription:
Commemorating the message of
Peace, harmony, and oneness
Brought to Los Angeles
By Swami Vivekananda in 1899
There will be light refreshments, and free parking in the lot accessible off Vedanta Place. Please come if you are able, a little early if you want to visit the bookstore, and spread the word.
It’s not often that a city as young as Los Angeles has the chance to celebrate a 125th anniversary, and in coming here Swami Vivekananda didn’t just change Los Angeles, he transformed Western thought. Come celebrate that golden thread with the local community that continues his holy work, steps from the 101 Freeway, with million dollar views of the sun setting over the Capitol Records tower.
Saturday is going to be the last Esotouric bus adventure for some time, and we're going out with our flagship Real Black Dahlia tour, which asks not who killed Beth Short, but who was she, and what does she have to teach us about Los Angeles? So, so much! Join us and crime buddy Joan “Red” Renner on a time travel trip from Downtown’s neon-drenched night spots to the lonely suburban vacant lot where this troubled and fascinating soul became immortal and eternally connected to the city.
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
Psst… If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar and a subscriber edition of this newsletter, 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 and bus tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING BUS & WALKING TOURS
• The Real Black Dahlia Crime Bus Tour (Sat. 2/24) • SOLD OUT Know Your Downtown L.A.: Tunnels To Towers To The Dutch Chocolate Shop Walking Tour (Sat. 3/16) • The Run: Gay Downtown History Walking Tour (Sat. 3/23) • Franklin Village Old Hollywood Walking Tour (Sat. 3/30) • John Fante’s Downtown Los Angeles Birthday Walking Tour (Sat. 4/6) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown Los Angeles Walking Tour (Sat. 4/13) • Human Sacrifice: The Black Dahlia, Elisa Lam, Heidi Planck & Skid Row Slasher Cases Walking Tour (Sat. 4/20) • Downtown Los Angeles is for Book Lovers Walking Tour (Sat. 4/27) • Alvarado Terrace & South Bonnie Brae Tract Time Travel Trip Walking Tour (Sat. 5/4) • Charles Bukowski’s Westlake Walking Tour (Sat. 5/11) • Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice Walking Tour (Sat. 5/18) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 Walking Tour (Sat. 5/25) • POP – Preserving Our Past Downtown Los Angeles Walking Tour (Sat. 6/1)
CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS
Why is Raymond Chandler miffed? Maybe because "his" Estate in Blighty has so many weird marketing ideas. Kim's quoted defending the actual work in this LAT piece by Nate Rogers, illus. by his noir pop Paul--who also did her mystery novel cover and Ray's L.A. map.
Are you bummed you didn't get to hear all the sleazy Huizy chisme because racketeer councilman Jose Huizar plead out before trial? Co-conspirator and Deputy Mayor Ray Chan's retrial is going to be red hot, and Judge Walter is ready to spill the tea!
Imagine going all the way to La Jolla, excited because the La Valencia Hotel brought back Raymond Chandler's beloved Whaling Bar and Wing Howard's historic mural, only to find they destroyed the art while reinstalling it? This is shocking, terrible.
An update about the illegally vacant, derelict 5212 W. Melrose bungalow court: LADBS filed an abate order: “The building or premises is Substandard due to inadequate sanitation caused by general dilapidation or improper maintenance.” Now clean ‘em up and get the tenants back in their homes!
A tough read: Jack Ross writes about our friend Lupe Breard's botched eviction case and how LA Tenant's Union support convinced her not to jump off the courthouse cafeteria deck. She's right: NELA Group is going to hell. Help her here.
The latest deep dive in Mike Callahan's Dusty Archive is a history of zoning in Los Angeles, part 1 (1904-1960) and part 2 (1960-2000). The tug of war for control of the built environment has been always with us.
Making public comment at City Hall is hard work, so we rewarded ourselves with a mini vacation in the abandoned, psychedelic Los Angeles Mall next door. Tune in, turn on, drop out!
What PLUM did to B'nai B'rith and your invitation to celebrate 125 Years of Swami Vivekananda in L.A. on 2/22