Preserving the Past in West Adams

In a unique multiracial, grass-roots preservation effort, African Americans, Latinos and Asians are teaming up to preserve some historic Los Angeles neighborhoods and protect homes and other structures that, in some cases, are more than 100 years old.

Their efforts are centered on what is left of the old Los Angeles straddling the Santa Monica Freeway in an area called West Adams, named for Adams Boulevard, which runs from south of downtown Los Angeles to Culver City.

Some experts estimate that as many as 15 historic homes a year in West Adams either are demolished or their original features are covered by stucco.

The multiethnic approach these days is unlike an earlier effort in the area, which was largely spurred in the 1980s by Anglo yuppies in search of larger affordable homes close to downtown.

“In the last 20 years, many blacks and Latinos have developed the sophistication to appreciate historic homes,” said architect Roland Wylie, who moved into the area in 1988 and was among the first of many blacks who subsequently joined the West Adams preservation movement. “It really is a rainbow coalition.”

“They’re gung-ho for it,” said actor Jim Jensen of his black and Latino neighbors on West 25th Street.

So far, the city has extended historic recognition--formally called Historic Preservation Overlay Zones--to nine Los Angeles neighborhoods, ranging from Highland Park, where more than 2,500 structures are protected, to the Angelino Heights district in Echo Park and the Carthay Circle district east of Beverly Hills. After the City Council extends recognition to a district, a committee of residents reviews proposed work on historic structures in the area.

The preservation movement involves five West Adams neighborhoods where residents are seeking official city recognition.

One area, the University Park district near USC, gained City Council approval last month and the other four are moving through the process with widespread support from area residents. Officials say council recognition for all four is likely by the end of summer.

The moves were prompted in one area by the end of a local redevelopment zone, which provided protection to historic structures. And there was a general feeling in other districts that preservation was a good idea whose time had finally come.

“I think people started looking around and saying, ‘Where’s the history?’ ” said Dora Leong Gallo, chief deputy to City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has monitored the preservation campaign.

Some rich examples of Los Angeles’ history are in the five neighborhoods.

The University Park district contains one of the highest concentrations of historic structures and monuments in Los Angeles.

Among the historic buildings is the headquarters of the Automobile Club of Southern California on Figueroa Street, built in 1923 and designed by Sumner Hunt, architect of the Mission Inn in Riverside and other examples of Spanish Colonial and Mission Revival architecture.

And in Lafayette Square, west of Crenshaw Boulevard and north of Washington Boulevard, there is a core of upper-class homes where some of Los Angeles’ elite lived in the 1910s and ‘20s. Actors W.C. Fields and Fatty Arbuckle were residents and one of Los Angeles’ most prominent architects, Paul Williams, built his home there in 1950.

The residents are so proud of their efforts that they will hold a home tour April 30. (Tickets to see seven homes cost $25 in advance, $30 that day. For more information, call [323] 692-7737.)

The other three area neighborhoods seeking city approval for historic preservation are Adams-Normandie, around the intersection of those two streets; Harvard Heights, north of Washington Boulevard and between Normandie and Western avenues, which contains more than 400 historic homes built between the late 1800s and the 1930s; and Western Heights, north of the Santa Monica Freeway between Arlington and Western avenues. It has numerous examples of Craftsman, Queen Anne, Tudor Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival homes.

The Van Buren Place preservation zone, created in 1996 because of lobbying by Wylie and others, is scheduled to become part of the larger Adams-Normandie district.

There is more to history in West Adams than the great old homes. The area played a central role in the fight for integrated housing in Los Angeles in the years before and after World War II. Actress Hattie McDaniel, who won a supporting-actress Oscar for her portrayal of a black servant in “Gone With the Wind,” fought against restrictive covenants that barred nonwhites from property ownership in the area.

As more and more whites moved out of West Adams after the war, it became predominantly black, with many professionals among its residents.

But in the 1960s, the construction of the freeway tore the heart out of West Adams. It destroyed dozens of houses, including Berkeley Square, a gated neighborhood with 20 mansions; one had 65 rooms that served as offices for a group of black physicians.

After the area had attracted little attention in real estate circles for years, young professionals, mostly Anglos, discovered the West Adams district and bought homes there in the 1980s.

These new arrivals, first moving into homes west of the USC campus, helped spur the preservation movement there. The new residents contributed to preserving historic homes.

These days, residents of every ethnic stripe ask how to get into the rush for a preservation-zone designation.

Tom Florio, co-chairman of the West Adams Heritage Assn., said the issue driving the interest in preservation is the increasing economic value of historic homes.

“Will these [historic] buildings be standing 20 years from now or will they be gone?” Florio asked.

Within a preservation zone, any exterior work on a historic structure, including painting or repairs, is subject to review by a panel of area residents. Work cannot begin unless it receives approval from this group. Such work without approval is considered illegal.

Interior work on a home or business--even something outlandish like putting a hot tub in a kitchen--is not subject to review, said Herb Glasgow, the city’s chief planner for West Adams.

In addition, nonhistoric buildings are not subject to the stringent review required for historic structures.

The restrictions, which are intended to preserve a neighborhood’s aesthetic integrity, are not that tough, supporters said.

“They are much less restrictive [than for residents who live] in condos or gated communities,” said Ken Bernstein, director of preservation for the Los Angeles Conservancy. The zones “only deal with exterior alterations.”

Supporters point to increasing property values as a good reason to create a preservation zone.

A story told by actor Jensen, vice president of the Adams-Normandie Neighborhood Assn., is heard repeatedly in the five West Adams districts. He says his home on West 25th Street, built in 1909, has increased about $80,000 in value since he moved in 10 years ago. It was recently valued at $230,000, he said.

In addition, owners of historic homes in preservation zones are eligible for property tax reductions under a state law designed to encourage preservation.

Under the Mills Act, homeowners like Jensen, whose homes are worth less than $500,000, are eligible for property tax cuts ranging from 25% to 75%.

“It hits us right where it counts,” Jensen said approvingly.

Opposition to the creation of the five preservation districts has been overwhelmed by the widespread support they enjoy.

Generally, one or two speakers have appeared at city hearings packed with preservation supporters to complain that their rights as property owners are being limited.

“You can’t tell me what to do with my property,” one man bellowed at a reporter who asked for comment on the zones. “This is communism. This is illegal. This isn’t right.”

Back on 25th Street, Travis Emery, a local government liaison for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, who moved to the street 15 years ago, agreed with several of his neighbors at a recent gathering that such complaints come from outsiders who are out of touch with West Adams.

“I used to live in Santa Monica,” Emery said, “but I moved here because I wanted to live in a multiethnic area.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Preserving Neighborhoods

Five racially mixed neighborhoods in the West Adams area of Los Angeles are seeking official city recognition to preserve historic homes and businesses in areas straddling the Santa Monica Freeway.

Preservation Zones

1. Lafayette Square

2. Western Heights

3. Harvard Heights

4. Adams-Normandie

5. University Park