You Can't Eat The Sunshine--Esotouric's Weekly Podcast

Join us as we focus on the Boyle Heights community that has rallied to protect the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments (David J. Witmer and Loyall F. Watson, 1939) from threatened redevelopment. We’ll hear from Cal State Los Angeles professor Bidhan Roy, community activist Rigo Amavizca and poet Kevin Stricke as we look into the motivations and tactics behind the grassroots movement called SAVE Wyvernwood. Plus the restoration of the Globe Theatre marquee on Broadway, a long-anticipated sales listing for South Pasadena’s derelict Rialto Theatre, tough times for the Balboa Village Theatre, yet another old newsstand to close (this one in Westwood), the death of Broadway’s beloved rooftop tree, a video explores the gentrification of Grand Central Market and a farewell to Chavez Ravine photographer Don Normark. All this and more as Kim & Richard usher in the week of June 16th, 2014.

Join us this week as we talk with Bob Adjemian about his golden youth clerking at the legendary Pickwick Bookshop on Hollywood Boulevard. We’ll also visit with Brian Kaiser, Southern California’s tile expert, to explore the design and manufacture of the tile for Union Station, the last great rail terminal in the west. We’ll also discuss the closure of Hollywood’s venerable World Book & News newsstand, a planned facelift for one of the ugliest buildings on Broadway, Ed Ruscha’s Hollywood Boulevard street photography, California’s proposed Atkins Bill which offers tax credits for renovating historic buildings, Los Angeles to pay $1.75 Million for legal bills for opponents of the Hollywood Plan and a sale and use change for the 1929 Gothic-Art Deco Foreman & Clark building downtown Going Mixed-Use. All this and more and Kim & Richard usher in the week of June 9th, 2014.

Join us this week as we visit with State Parks Ranger Jean Rhyne for her tips for exploring nature in the Antelope Valley this summer. Then we’ll dip down to Long Beach, where poet-machinist Fred Voss shares the early morning fantasies of his 4th Street commute. We’ll also discuss the Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of a $1 Billion revitalization of the Los Angeles River and “good” versus “bad” gentrification, a citizen’s group fights back to save the Riverside-Figueroa Street Bridge, El Batay #2 in Echo Park faces eviction and the interesting conversation that’s sprung up around a controversial Boyle Heights real estate bike tour. All this and more as Kim & Richard usher in the week of June 2nd, 2014 Photo: A 20 foot mural called Flying Morrison at 425 E. 4th Street in Long Beach.

Join us this week as dip down to Long Beach where Kerstin Kansteiner shares the inspiration behind her popular establishments Portfolio Coffeehouse and Berlin Bistro.  We'll also visit with poet Joan Jobe Smith to hear about her mentor Charles Bukowski and how her writer's voice has evolved since the 1960s. We'll also discuss developer Geoff Palmer's bridge approved for the Da Vinci project over Temple Street, a less majestic sort of palm planted to replace dying ones in Elysian Park, pending restoration of the Globe Theatre marquee, the evolving mystery of Rufus the Bahooka tiki bar fish and two newspaper editorials that call for the Zanja Madre in Chinatown to be preserved in place. All this and more as Kim and Richard usher in the week of May 26th, 2014 Photo: Marx-Engels-Platz and the Palast der Republik in East Berlin in the summer of 1989

Join us this week as we talk with City Archivist Michael Holland about more exciting relics from Los Angeles’ past he’s uncovered in “The Vault.” We’ll also visit with author Stephen Gee to hear about Union Station’s 75th anniversary and its architect, recently honored with the naming of 5th & Spring Streets as John Parkinson Square. We’ll also discuss the recent appearance of San Bernardino’s historic Arrowhead Springs resort on the open market, and the findings of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Preservation Green Lab on how Older, Smaller, Better offers great benefits for urban development. All this and more as Kim & Richard usher in the week of May 19th, 2014. Photo: Union Station opening day, May 3rd, 1939

Join us this week as we visit with the colorful Antonio Pellini, whose Eatalian Café is a culinary oasis in industrial Gardena. We’ll also talk with Swami Atmatatvenanda about the mystic British writer Gerald Heard’s time at the venerable Vedanta Society ashram in Hollywood. We’ll also discuss the ongoing preservation concerns surrounding the historic Zanja Madre discovery in Chinatown and a new campaign to preserve L.A.‘s first theatre, The Merced. All this and more and Kim & Richard usher in the week of May 12th, 2014 Photo: Eatalian’s Faema espresso machine

Join us this week as we talk with Cathee Shultz, who with her husband J.D. runs the eclectic and macabre Museum of Death in Hollywood. We’ll also visit with Bob Adjemian, manager of the Vedanta Press, to learn about the writer Christopher Isherwood’s abiding influence on the Press and monastery. We’ll also discuss our concerns about the quiet removal of a portion of the historic Zanja Madre for private use, the problem of Saturday press conferences in a press-poor town and the “Preserve Los Angeles’ Zanja Madre in place” editorial in The Daily News. Plus plans for reviving the Merced, L.A.‘s oldest theatre, Councilman Gil Cedillo’s opposition to saving the old Riverside-Figueroa Bridge (or, apparently, anything historic in his district), a recommendation that Parker Center be demolished and the upcoming first meeting to discuss new signage standards for Broadway. All this and more and Kim & Richard usher in the week of May 5th, 2014. Photo: Swami Prabhavananda & Christopher Isherwood at the Vedanta Center in Hollywood

Join us this week as we talk with the magnificently mustachio’d historian Paul Greenstein about the old Llano del Rio colony in the Antelope Valley and its upcoming May Day centennial celebration. We’ll also visit with Chris Nichols to learn about “Bowlarama,” his exhibition of bowling center ephemera, artifacts and design, which is currently on view at the A+D Museum. We’ll also discuss Brent C. Dickerson’s newly published history, “Narciso Botello’s Annals of Southern California 1833 – 1847,” the status of the Zanja Madre discovery under the Blossom Plaza project in Chinatown, the discovery of a portion of the Temple Block under the City Hall Lawn, the restored footage of Union Station on opening day (May 3, 1939), rumors surrounding the sale of the Broadway Trade Center and our serious concerns as LA’s Department of Recreation and Parks pushes on with its RFP for a new tenant to operate and maintain Highland Park’s historic Lummis Home, pushing out longtime tenant/steward, the Southern California Historical Society. All this as more as Kim & Richard usher in the week of April 28th, 2014. Photo: Chris' Bowling Exhibit at A+D museum

Join us this week as we visit with Altadena’s own compost guru, Tim Dundon, for a mind-expanding primer on how to get composting in your own backyard (or balcony) in no time. We’ll also talk with Professor Paul Rood about the surprising Jewish influence on BIOLA, Downtown LA’s Christian university, through the stories of Daniel Rose, Charles Feinberg and William E. Blackstone, BIOLA’s first Dean and “the father of Zionism.” We’ll also discuss the upcoming OpenStreetMap Edit-athon, the Underground Museum’s new group show “Veils,” Hamburger’s Department Store in escrow and the discovery of a large section of the historic Zanja Madre aqueduct in the excavations for Chinatown’s Blossom Plaza project. All of this and more as Kim and Richard usher in the week of April 21st, 2014. Photo: Daniel Rose and the staff of the BIOLA Jewish Department, 1949

Join us this week as we drop by City Hall, the most iconic Film Noir location in Los Angeles, to talk with poet and educator Suzanne Lummis about the Poetry Noir genre and National Poetry month. We’ll also visit with Ranger Jean Rhyne of the California State Park Service to get her personal invitation to view the extraordinary poppy bloom currently happening at the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve. We’ll also discuss the proposed new La Plaza Cultura Village development to the west of Olvera Street, the new city park at First and Broadway and plans by Tacos El Gavilan to demolish an original Stanley Meston McDonald’s restaurant south of downtown. All of this and more as Kim and Richard usher in the week of April 14th, 2014. Photo: Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, Spring 2014

Join us this week as we talk with Gail Pierce of the Historic Neff House in La Mirada, the childhood home of architect Wallace Neff. We also visit with poet Cece Peri to discuss the origins and techniques of that most cinematic literary genre, Poem Noir. We’ll also discuss the unfortunate stucco remodel of the formerly gold leafed facade of 735 South Broadway and preservation concerns about other historic buildings along this National Register boulevard as development kicks into high gear. All of this and more as Kim and Richard usher in the week of April 7th, 2014. Photo: The Dietrichson house (AKA The Death House) in the film “Double Indemnity” (1944)

Join us this week as we talk with Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Urban Planning Professor and an Associate Dean at the Luskin School of Public Affairs, about the sidewalks and other public spaces of Los Angeles, the challenges they face and the promise they hold. We’ll also visit with Anna Pehoushek, Principal City Planner for the City of Orange, to discover how preservation became a core value in her city’s public policy and some of the unexpected architectural gems that Orange holds. We’ll also discuss the draft EIR for La Plaza Cultura Village, William Dailey Rare Books offers yearbooks belonging to Charles Bukowski’s pal Baldie, a major article about Skid Row in Politico and Andrés Duany on “lean urbanism.” All this and more as Kim & Richard usher in the week of March 31st, 2014. Photo Credit: Sonia Rivas

Join us this week as we talk with historian Philip Mershon as he reveals the inspirations behind his 90-minute Sunset Boulevard entertainment history walking tour and his Felix In Hollywood Tour Company. We’ll also visit with 80-something Myllie Taylor, a colorful longtime resident of La Mirada, for a sampling of her adventures growing up in Boyle Heights, then the most diverse neighborhood in all of Los Angeles. We’ll also discuss two landmark nominations in Hollywood up for consideration at the Cultural Heritage Commission, a bungalow court containing four cottages done in Storybook style and a Pueblo Style Revival. All this and more as Kim & Richard usher in the week of March 24th, 2014. Photo: Vladeck Center (1st & St. Louis) Banquet circa 1960. Courtesy of SoCal Arbeter Ring/Workmen's Circle.

Join us this week as we slip into the Bradbury Building and find actress Dale Raoul lurking on a mezzanine, in the mood to muse on April’s Poem Noir-themed LAVA Sunday Salon, and the poems of fellow Salon presenter Suzanne Lummis. We’ll also visit with Brian Kaiser, Southern California’s tile expert, to explore the symbolism of the custom Ernest Batchelder tiles in the lobby of the John Roebling Sons Building in downtown L.A.‘s Arts District. We’ll also discuss Ned Kaufman’s recent talk at USC about changing the way we think about preservation, the Mayor's call for Peer Review of the Boyle Heights Wyvernwood Project, a little known pre-War State law which foreshadowed our modern CRAs & BIDs, and almost bankrupted every city which used it, and the LA Streets Parklet application process is launched. All this and more as Kim & Richard usher in the week of March 17th, 2014. Photo: The Bradbury Building

Join us this week as we talk with Cathee Shultz, who with her husband J.D. runs the eclectic and macabre Museum of Death in Hollywood. We’ll also visit with Southern California tile expert Brian Kaiser to discover the fascinating history of John Roebling & Sons, the family business that designed the Brooklyn Bridge, and whose devoted employees gave tile designer Ernest Batchelder an interesting early commission at the corner of 2nd and Alameda Streets in the Arts District. We’ll also discuss El Sereno’s first proposed historic preservation overlay zone, a 45-day moratorium on new construction in West Hollywood West, non-profit funding shenanigans precede the centennial of Balboa Park’s Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, the Salvation Army on the Bowery to become an Ace Hotel and Jeremiah Moss’ musings on hyper-gentrification in New York. All this and more as Kim & Richard usher in the week of March 10th, 2014.