Wish List for a Brighter New Year

Consistent with the tradition that the New Year be welcomed in with expressions of hope, this first column of 1989 is my wish list for select persons and institutions involved in the design and development of Southern California:

* That in the anticipated mayoralty campaigns the candidates actually address the increasing concerns of communities for more environmentally conscious, user-sensitive and neighborly planning and design. But the debates and discussions should not be in the usual campaign jargon flooded with slogans and generalities, rather in specific programs for specific problems and neighborhoods. It is time that such reports as “LA 2000,” “Housing Los Angeles” and “Vision Van Nuys” start being implemented, instead of filed away.

* That the Los Angeles City Council clean up its act on how developers are selected for city-owned land. If the city ever expects to attract responsible, design-conscious proposals, it cannot allow a repeat of how the more architecturally sensitive, community-supported Showa proposal for Little Tokyo was torpedoed by a politically well-connected, and well-financed consortium. And then some council members wonder why they are consistently booed at community meetings they dare attend.

* That now that the city has taken title to El Pueblo Park downtown, it encourage the proper restoration and maintenance of the historic area, as promised. This means respecting the potential of the fragile landmarks there while not short-changing local merchants of long standing by yielding to political interests fronting for special interests out to make a quick buck, as has been indicated in recent meetings.

* That now that those involved in the farcical West Coast Gateway competition have milked it for their own promotion, the “winning” scheme be scrapped and the search for a distinguishing design for Los Angeles be turned over to more responsive and responsible leadership. To even think in this time of need that $33 million (not coincidentally a very low-ball estimate) be spent on the scheme, even if privately raised, borders on the irresponsible. Once again Mayor Bradley has backed a loser.

* That the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency recognize and encourage the continuing self renewal of the West Adams area and once and for all scrap the proposal to dismember the Menlo Avenue and 29th Street Historic District for a shopping center. We understand too well the agency’s desire to yield to political and special interests that can deliver votes on the council to ease its credit crunch, but it shouldn’t be at the cost of a community’s frail architectural heritage.

* That the plan for Central City West, now in its final throes of preparation, fulfill its promise as a model for community responsive growth. In particular, that the pockets of inexpensive housing now there be protected, while new housing is developed, along with needed new schools and parks to provide a community fabric for the inevitable commercial complexes. On the line is the case for responsible private development.

* That the Department of Water and Power recognize that in addition to protecting our water quality it also has a responsibility to protect our environment, and therefore should provide a reasonable and aesthetic solution, or alternative, to covering the reservoirs.

* That now that some avaricious developers have discovered the community character and potential of Northeast Los Angeles, in particular Mt. Washington, Highland Park and Lincoln Heights, zoning there be strengthened to protect that character so as not to undermine the potential.

* That the ambitious proposal by the Trammell Crow Co. to develop the former Samson Tire, cum Uniroyal, structure in City of Commerce as a retail, office and hotel complex becomes a reality. Located alongside the Santa Ana Freeway, the rambling structure, with its evocative facade in the form of an Assyrian Palace, is one of Southern California’s more prominent architectural landmarks. Having withstood waves of vandals and unfriendly thoughts of demolition, it deserves a new life.

* That the Marketplace in Old Pasadena, having been finally marketed, or so we have been told, respect the funky context and tone of Colorado Boulevard, and not turn the block into a Rodeo Drive east.

* That the architectural conservation program of the Getty get into gear, recognize its particular obligation to its host community, and begin making a difference by helping to preserve local landmarks. The best of intentions by the Getty and the promise of new technology and trades unfortunately will not stop the south wall of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Ennis-Brown house in Los Feliz, and a host of other local landmarks, from continuing to crumble.

* That the recent exchange program between the Southern California Institute of Architecture and the Moscow Institute of Architecture having been so successful, at least socially, other exchange programs be considered. One that might prove interesting would be between the architecture and planning departments at UCLA, two tenure-crippled entities that in the past seem to have been working at cross purposes though under the same roof.

* That the historic and innovative Eames House in Pacific Palisades be acquired by an institution, perhaps the Getty or a university, to be used as a residence for visiting scholars or critics, and be respected and preserved.

* That the Los Angeles Prize, sponsored biannually by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, be given this year not for some futurist concept, as it was last time, but to address the more immediate problem of providing shelters for the homeless.

* That ways be found to save our old, architecturally distinctive theaters and movie studios, as well as such institutions as the Variety Arts Club, to remind us of our rich heritage as the dream capital of the world. If Los Angeles has a soul, my guess is that it is embodied in part in such structures as the Million Dollar and Los Angeles theaters on Broadway.

The passing of another year, and the ringing in of the new, prompts such thoughts. After all, architecture is our civic legacy.