Appeal to Save Googie

It was good to see Fred Seibert from Hanna-Barbera stating that historic and interesting architecture is worth preserving (Commentary, Dec. 26). Unfortunately, it is a sensibility completely out of tune with ever-evolving Los Angeles. Los Angeles, it seems, is a city that cannot acknowledge its past. I encourage Seibert to see what is happening in the Hollywood historic district as a guide to what will happen to prized examples of Googie architecture. Famous and beautiful buildings in this district nearing their centennial are being demolished at an alarming frequency.

That demolition permits are allowed within a designated historic district, where all the buildings are contributory, is mind-boggling. Googie architecture will only be one more style that eats the dust. The Vine Street Brown Derby, a building specifically listed in the National Register of Historic Places, has now been gone for nearly two years.

The most beautiful Art Deco theater in America, the Pantages, is in grave danger of losing its ornamentation. The Northridge earthquake damaged it and there are insufficient funds and grants to restore and preserve this gem of a theater. Bill Hanna, a founder of Seibert’s company, worked on its construction when he was a young man starting out to find a career.

If historic Hollywood is on its way to extinction and city officials do not encourage its survival, who will save architecture of the ‘50s and ‘60s?

GREG WILLIAMS

Vice President

Preservation Issues

Hollywood Heritage

* Although it is stated in a caption that the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium was built in 1965, this is incorrect. [It was built in 1958.] I attended various shows there, such as Peter, Paul and Mary, Shelley Berman and Mort Sahl, in 1960.

FRED LAGERSON

Playa del Rey

* Seibert’s commentary in praise of the Googie style of architecture struck a familiar chord. His voice is the latest addition to a steady chorus demanding that someone preserve a favorite car wash or hamburger joint. I read the article hoping to hear how just one local company had saved just one of these Atomic Age buildings. Most “googies” were built for a specific purpose in an era of cheap fuel, fewer building security problems, able-bodied employees, 4.5 earthquakes and planned obsolescence. Renovations to suit an unrelated business are expensive and technically challenging.

Only in the final paragraphs do we learn that Seibert’s contribution is a new building designed to satisfy space requirements and the uniquely Hollywood needs of the inside joke and self-congratulation. Good for you, Mr. Seibert. Let me know when you figure out how to turn a coffee shop into a light manufacturing facility.

ALLAN W. LAKIN

Encino