Historic Homes or Simply Old and Homely? : San Pedro: Preservation advocates say tearing down old homes destroys the city’s ‘fishing village’ heritage. Others say the run-down houses aren’t worth saving.

Cathy Fergus recently stood in front of her renovated Victorian house on 17th Street in San Pedro and talked about saving historic buildings.

But she wasn’t talking about the weather vane-topped, 1880s house she and her husband bought three years ago. She pointed instead to a tiny, almost nondescript house next door.

“That house was built in 1905. An old fisherman named Frank Marinkovich lived and died there. You could say it’s just a crummy, little, white house, but it is a part of San Pedro history,” she said. “The developer who bought this? He wants to tear it down and build a three-unit apartment building.”

Historic preservation activists in San Pedro have watched the same thing happen to hundreds of other single-family homes in recent years as soaring property values have attracted apartment and condominium development.

Worried that the “fishing village” feel of Old San Pedro--the area between 10th and 21st streets and Palos Verdes Street and Pacific Avenue--is eroding, a group of vocal residents is pushing for sweeping protections for virtually every older building in the neighborhood.

But the debate over whether all older homes in the area, including many run-down buildings, are worth preserving, has become the most hotly contested issue in a zoning plan now being hammered out by a citizens committee.

The San Pedro Community Plan Advisory Committee was appointed last year by City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores to help guide future growth in one of the most distinctive districts of Los Angeles. The panel is now publicly debating recommendations for zoning changes presented by a subcommittee in January. Once the plan is approved by the committee, it is subject to approval by Flores and must go through a series of public hearings before it can be implemented.

In February, a committee meeting quickly dissolved into a bitter exchange between preservationists and advocates of growth when committee member Doug Shepardson proposed a sweeping downzoning of the Old San Pedro area. The proposed downzoning, which would protect older houses by practically eliminating all apartment and condominium development in the area, caused such heated debate that committee chairman Noah Modisett put off the question until the next meeting, set for next Wednesday.

The dispute has angered the opposing camps, both of which have been working for months on the community plan revision. Both sides say tempers are likely to flare again when the committee meets Wednesday afternoon to take up the subject.

Preservationists say small, simple houses such as the fisherman’s cottage on 17th Street have become easy prey for developers who want to build apartments and condominiums.

But opponents of downzoning argue that the subcommittee’s zoning recommendations, which would allow condominium development as long as it “fits the character” of the neighborhood, are the best way to improve the area. They say truly unique and significant houses will be renovated by owners under the plan, and that it will encourage developers to replace dilapidated buildings with improved housing.

Preservationists, aware that the proposal to downzone Old San Pedro faces an uphill battle, are also hoping to have older houses protected by establishing a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone.

To implement such a zone, a proposal must go through numerous public hearings and win the support of the City Council. If approved, a design review board will be appointed to watch over development within the zone, making sure new development is consistent with the character of the surrounding area. Only a few areas of Los Angeles presently have overlay zones.

“An HPOZ won’t prevent development, it will just make sure it is consistent with surroundings. There are a lot of structures we want to save. We want to make sure the flavor of the community is not destroyed,” said Bill Manuel, a lawyer who served on the historic preservation subcommittee.

But opponents of the historic zone designation and the proposed strict downzoning say the preservationists are not so much advocates of history as they are simply anti-growth. They argue that many of the older houses in the area are not worth preserving because they are in such bad condition. They say new, compatible development is the only way to improve Old San Pedro.

“Sure, there are a lot of nice homes. But then we also have a lot of older properties with brick foundations and crumbling mortar,” said Advisory Committee member Tony Marino, who strongly opposes further downzoning in Old San Pedro. “(The preservationists) presented a list of 600 supposed historic sites last year when we were working on the interim control ordinance. If we have 600 historic sites, then we have more than Washington, D.C.”

Such numbers seem excessive to some--the list was rejected last year as too large--but the area unquestionably has large numbers of older homes. Many of the Victorian-style houses built around the turn of the century seem in little danger of demolition: Most have been renovated by history-minded residents.

Of the less notable sites, many are Craftsman-style homes, small, clapboard, single-family houses. Tucked between scattered, boxlike, stucco-covered apartment buildings, many of the smaller homes have fallen into disrepair. With peeling paint and tattered roofs, many of the houses look more like slums than historic buildings.

But preservationists argue that, if taken care of, such houses would help keep alive the memory of San Pedro when it was home to grizzled sea captains and merchant sailors.

“Some of these houses don’t look wonderful at all. But a house does not necessarily have to look beautiful to have historical significance,” said Nancy Fernandez, an executive assistant to the Cultural Heritage Commission. “And remember, if we didn’t try and save the 40-year-old houses, we wouldn’t have any 80-year-old houses to preserve.”

Fernandez said Los Angeles has broad guidelines for determining what properties may be historically significant. Houses over 40 years old, those considered representative of specific architectural types, works of master builders and structures that may have played a part in local history can all be declared as historic landmarks.

Even opponents of downzoning agree that the New England fishing village feel of Old San Pedro is worth cultivating. But preservationists say the opponents are blind to the “hidden historical value” of some buildings.

Two years ago, Roxanne Arian bought a two-story home built by her great-aunt’s parents in 1886. Arian said she was given a poignant reminder of the house’s history when she recently began stripping the walls in one room and found them lined with newspapers from 1889.

“Fixing up one of these old places is like being on a treasure hunt,” she said, showing off a “What Have You Preserved Lately?” T-shirt from the San Pedro Bay Historical Society.

Although supporters of preservation say smaller and less striking homes are in the most danger under current zoning rules, they say several homes of recognized historical value have been demolished.

“There was a big Craftsman-style home on 13th Street once owned by a Captain MacVickers that is featured in the book ‘A Walking Tour of Beach Cities.’ That house is gone now,” Fergus said.

Preservationists also wryly note the circumstances in which the Historical Society recently paid thousands of dollars to relocate an old house to serve as its headquarters overlooking the Harbor.

“It is ironic they spent all that money for an old, historical building, when a block and a half away developers tore down two houses just like that to build boxes,” Shepardson said.

The meeting to discuss the zoning recommendations will be 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at San Pedro City Hall, 631 S. Beacon St.