Plan Advances to Open a Window on History

When diggers building a subway hit the rich cache of adobe tiles at Campo de Cahuenga four years ago, archeologists hurried to piece together fragments of California history before time swallowed them up again.

The city’s transportation planners, meanwhile, were busy plotting traffic flow around the bustling Lankershim Boulevard site beside Universal Studios, a scheme that called for widening the road. But preservationists began protesting that the road would bury part of the old building’s foundation once again.

After months of negotiations, all parties agreed this week to a compromise that promises to throw open a literal window on the past, in the shape of a 9-foot by 40-foot plexiglass panel embedded next to the sidewalk along Lankershim.

Both the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission and the Recreation and Parks Commission approved the proposal at separate meetings Wednesday.

The plan would allow visitors--and officials are counting on plenty of them when the Metro Red Line subway extension opens here in June--to glimpse a portion of the original adobe floor tiles that lie inches below the ground.

If approved by federal and state officials, the project could be finished by March 2001.

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Guy Weddington McCreary, president of the Campo de Cahuenga Historical Memorial Assn. “When you have history of this significance . . . the public should be able to enjoy it.”

The site, buried for about a century, is often hailed as the birthplace of modern California. In 1847, Mexican Gen. Andres Pico and American Lt. Col. John C. Fremont met at Campo de Cahuenga to sign the peace treaty that ended the Mexican-American War here. The war allowed the United States to broaden its territory to include what are now California, Nevada, Utah and parts of other states.

Archeologists believe the adobe was built between 1795 and 1810, probably by Native Americans, as part of the Spanish-run Mission San Fernando. The building is thought to have been a home or ranch quarters.

“Almost all of the cultures that had anything to do with California history are represented in that site,” said John Foster, an archeologist hired by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to examine the adobe.

The portion of the building targeted for public viewing is in “remarkably good condition,” Foster said. “The foundations that we uncovered were almost as pristine as you can get.”

Agreeing to a preservation plan, however, was fraught with modern concerns--such as preventing gridlock at the new subway station. The city’s Department of Transportation originally wanted to widen Lankershim by 22 feet in front of the Campo property, now home to a replica of the old adobe.

James Okazaki, the department’s assistant general manager, said officials had hoped to preserve a slice of the original foundation that didn’t interfere with the street. But when archeologists excavated a part of the building beneath an adjoining parking lot, they found the tiles had been severely damaged.

Pressed by McCreary and other preservationists, transportation officials recently agreed to widen Lankershim by 10 feet next to the Campo, allowing room for the plexiglass viewing area.

“We didn’t get all the widening that we wanted in the first place, but we did preserve something one-of-a-kind in this world,” Okazaki said.

The Campo de Cahuenga site is already a city Historical-Cultural Monument and a California Historical Landmark. In an effort to promote the spot, Universal Studios agreed to contribute about $60,000 over the next 10 years to the Campo de Cahuenga Historical Memorial Assn., Weddington said.

Before the project can move forward, it must be approved by federal transportation officials because federal funding was involved in Metro Rail construction, Okazaki said. State officials must also approve the project because it involves a state historical landmark, he said. He projected that the viewing area could be built within a year.

“This is a very happy day for historic preservation in the San Fernando Valley and the city of Los Angeles,” said Ken Bernstein, the Los Angeles Conservancy’s head of preservation. “In many ways, the Campo de Cahuenga has been the San Fernando Valley’s best kept secret, despite its historical significance.”

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Viewing Campo de Cahuenga

The Department of Transportation has proposed installation of a window embedded in the ground along Lankershim Boulevard so pedestrians can view a portion of the original adobe Campo de Cahuenga.

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Source: Los Angeles Department of Transportation