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

This week we visit with Michael Holland, acting City Archivist, as he unearths civic treasures from deep in the vault, among them early photos of the soon-to-be-demolished 6th Street Viaduct. We’ll also talk with Kevin Mulcahy of RAC Design Build Studios about his daring proposal to save a section of the demolition-bound Riverside-Figueroa Bridge, to repurpose it as a river-view park. We’ll also discuss the Union Station Master Plan, CIM steps back from its controversial plan to demolish much of the historic United Artists film studio in West Hollywood, the “Learning From Los Angeles” report on downtown’s adaptive reuse projects, a new proposal to develop the only parking lot on Pershing Square, the long-lost Garden of Allah tabletop model is found, and the San Gabriel Choral Group hosts a concert in Monrovia’s National Register Aztec Hotel. All this and more as Kim and Richard usher in the week of Oct 21st, 2013 Image Credit: Imagining the repurposed old Riverside Viaduct as green space (RAC Build Design)

Join us this week as we talk with LA Public Library map librarian Glen Creason about the resources the collection can offer the curious urban researcher. Then we dip down to San Diego, for a visit with Louise Torio, board chair of the Friends Of the Villa Montezuma, to learn about an astonishing Victorian mansion, constructed by civic boosters to the specifications of a charismatic spiritualist, which still stands in the Historic Sherman Heights District. We’ll also discuss the troubling NTSB incident report on the closure of Angels Flight, a Wallace Neff house in danger and an iconic 76 station on the verge of landmarking in Beverly Hills, new life for Tom Bergin’s, and tenant at last in the old Craby Joe’s space at 7th & Main Streets. All this and more as Kim and Richard usher in the week of Oct 14th, 2013 Photo: The Villa Montezuma, Sherman Heights Historic District, San Diego.

Join us this week as we focus on the Watts Towers, to reveal all the things you DON'T already know about this unique folk art environment in south Los Angeles. We'll visit with conservator Sylvia Dorsch to learn about the work the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has undertaken to stabilize and strengthen the site. Then we'll talk with tile expert Brian Kaiser about his sleuthing of the sources of the mosaic fragments that decorate the Towers, and why Watts was the ideal place for such an unlikely structure to happen. We’ll also discuss the tragic alteration of the mid-century signage at Vernon’s La Villa Basque restaurant, a Gershwin home demolished in spite of Beverly Hills’ new historic preservation ordinance, a new plan for restoring the Salton Sea, a provocative community history project for South El Monte and El Monte, the clash of old and new at Grand Central Station, problems with landmarking Johnie’s Coffee Shop, the Grand Avenue plan hits an aesthetic wall, a consciousness expanding Bonnie Cashin lecture at UCLA, and grave concerns about the Bucket, a programmatic burger joint in Eagle Rock. All this and more as Kim and Richard usher in the week of October 7th, 2013. Photo Credit: George Mann

Join us this week as we focus on the history of the landmark Casa de Parley Johnson in Downey. We’ll visit with Florence Towers, President of the Downey Assistance League, to learn about the League’s stewardship of the 1927 Spanish Colonial Revival hacienda, which was designed by Roland Coate and gifted to the League by Mrs. Gypsy Johnson. Then we’ll join Brian Kaiser on the veranda to hear the incredible tale of how an ancient Persian ceramic glazing technique found throughout the house came to Mexico by way of Tunis and the Spanish Conquistadors. We’ll also discuss the uncertain future of former LAPD HQ Parker Center, the upcoming opening of the Valley Relics Museum of historic signage and ephemera, and a modest proposal to save the endangered Riverside-Figueroa Bridge. All this and more as Kim and Richard usher in the week of September 30th, 2013.

Join us this week as we talk with Los Angeles poet Suzanne Lummis about poetry in the Southland, from her grandfather Charles Fletcher Lummis’ day to Charles Bukowski’s and into the present. We’ll also visit with Patricia Adler-Ingram, Executive Director of the Historical Society of Southern California, about their longtime headquarters, El Elisal, the home Charles Fletcher Lummis built for his family more than a century ago. We’ll also discuss the newly-renovated Chinese Theatre no longer having film projector in its booth, the good works of San Juan Capistrano preservationist Ilse Byrnes, Burbank’s fears over its “Mansionization” problem, a judge’s ruling that UCLA must maintain Hannah Carter’s Japanese Garden, troubling changes at the Crystal Cathedral, and Judson Glass getting the commission to restore the historic windows in Highland Park’s Masonic Hall. All this and more as Kim and Richard usher in the week of September 23rd, 2013. Photo: Charles Fletcher Lummis lifting an arroyo stone into place for his house, El Alisal.

Join us this week as we talk with longtime Downtown LA resident Terry Ellsworth about the deep sense of community he found while living in the American Hotel in the Arts District. We’ll also visit with “Big John” Maljevic, who shares his father’s astonishing life story, a thrill-packed early 20th century voyage around the world, and how he found the girl he’d left behind. We’ll also discuss changes coming to the LA County Board of Supervisors, an unexpected $200-million funding gap for the Broadway streetcar project, reports that 5th & Spring has been named John Parkinson Square prove premature, and the flood of longtime vendors leaving Grand Central Market. All this and more the week of September 16th, 2013. Photo: Atomic Cafe, 1st & Alamdea, circa 1980.

Join us this week as we talk with Rare Books Librarian Emma Roberts about some unusual gems in the Los Angeles Public Library’s collection. We’ll also visit with Ken Bernstein, Head of the Office of Historic Resources for the City of Los Angeles, to explore the symbiotic relationship between light rail and urban development over the past century in Downtown LA. We’ll also discuss a cautionary tale of Neighborhood Councils and their authority (perceived and actual), memories of iconic Downtown culture hubs Troy and The Atomic Cafe, the last days of Irv’s Burgers, Angels Flight derails and the petition for the restoration of Pershing Square goes viral. All this and more, as Kim & Richard usher in the week of September 9th, 2013. Photo: Pacific Electric Terminal, 6th & Main. 1910

Join us this week as we visit with pioneering Downtown restaurateur Judith Markoff Hansen about her remarkable journey opening Gorky’s at 8th & San Julian in 1981. We’ll also visit with acting City Archivist, Michael Holland, for an introduction to the hidden treasures waiting to be discovered in Los Angeles’ archive. Plus, speculation that longtime curator Ann Goldstein might return to run MOCA, a moderately radical plan to save South Pasadena’s Rialto Theatre, the chickens of East LA’s Serbian Cemetery, and yet another proposal to re-envision Pershing Square inspires our petition asking public servants to simply restore our greatest lost park. All this and more, as Kim & Richard usher in the week of September 2nd, 2013. Photo: Gorky’s circa 1982

Join us this week as we visit with Alison Bruesehoff, Executive Director of the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum, to talk about 18th century rancho life and the site’s prominent role in early California aviation. Then we meet Southern California’s tile expert, Brian Kaiser, at the former Firestone Rubber Plant in South Gate, to learn about the lobby’s custom tile murals illustrating rubber production, from the jungle to the factory floor. Plus, Case Study Houses finally added to National Register, Jane Anderson’s play “Defying Gravity” staged at the old Downey Space Plant, the disturbing trend of modernist tear downs on the west side, the Huntington acquires Charles Flecther Lummis’ love offering to Susanita, and Councilman Mitch O’Farrell pushes for public notice of pending demolitions. All this and more, as Kim & Richard usher in the week of August 19th, 2013. Photo: Portion of a tile panel from Firestone Rubber Plant Lobby by Gladding McBean.

Join us this week as we talk with Cal State Los Angeles history professor Mark Wild about his research into the contentious world of street speaking in early 20th century L.A. Then we cross the campus to visit the laboratories of the Criminalistics Department, for a glimpse into the cutting edge forensic science theories and investigative tools which could transform police work in the southland and beyond. Plus, the CRA’s successor agency fences off park and plaza to curb “loitering,” the “MyFigueroa” Streetscape plan released, Charles Bukowski’s favorite sex shop is no more, Grand Central Market seeks permits for beer and wine sales into the early hours, and WAHA appeals to PLUM over that committee’s approval of the partial destruction of the landmark Bishop’s Mansion in West Adams. All this and more, as Kim & Richard usher in the week of August 19th, 2013. Photo: Street Speaker in Pershing Square, circa 1948. Biltmore Hotel in the background. Photo Credit: LAPL Photo Collection

Join us this week as we visit with raconteur and West Hollywood nightclub owner John Maljevic, to talk about his fifty-year friendship with the celebrated Western silversmith Charlie Sample. We’ll also sit down with Mike the PoeT (aka Mike Sonksen) to get the scoop on his new poems and new ideas for engaging Angelenos through verse and shared values. Plus, a plan to re-imagine California’s imperiled parks, a repertory company tackles James M. Cain’s “Double Indemnity” and a dance troupe celebrates Raymond Chandler, Wilmington’s original Der Wienerschnitzel stand up for landmarking, El Monte considers seizing underwater mortgages from the banks, and the Sparkle Factory flagship store coming to the historic Burns building at 8th and Broadway. All this and more, as Kim & Richard usher in the week of August 12th, 2013.

Join us this week as we talk with J. Scott Smith about his 29 Palms photographic series, celebrating the varied beauty of Southern California’s palm trees. We’ll also visit with performance artist Tim Youd, while he types a Charles Bukowski novel in the bed of a rented pickup truck outside the former Terminal Annex Post Office, where Bukowski worked for a decade. Plus, Metro re-routes bus traffic from Broadway to Hill and Spring Streets in advance of the start of Broadway Streetscape Master Plan work, Temple City gets into the streetscape planning business, Richard’s birthday bus tour announced, Downtown to get a Whole Foods market, redevelopment concerns for the landmark Barlow Hospital site in Elysian Park and Ed Rosenthal’s new book of poems inspired by his Joshua Tree hiking ordeal. All this and more, as Kim & Richard usher in the week of August 5th, 2013. Photos (left to right): Brazilian Needle Palm (Trithrinax brasiliensis) & Chilean Wine Palm (Jubaea Chilensis) in the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, UCLA. Photos by J. Scott Smith.

Join us this week as we talk with Paul Rood, Professor of Political Science at Biola University, and biographer of one of Los Angeles’ great philanthropists, Union Oil man Lyman Stewart. We’ll also talk with Donald Spivack, former Deputy Chief of Operations and Policy for the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA/LA), about the rise and fall of the Broadway Theater District, and its long journey back to prominence. Plus a lost Raymond Chandler’s Bay City location found, the cafe at the Police Academy to close for remodeling in January 2014, One Wilshire sells for record price, downtown’s massive former May Co. store on the market, plans for a private museum in the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple on Wilshire Boulevard and the Chinese Theatre’s ongoing interior remodel. All this and more, as Kim & Richard usher in the week of July 29th, 2013.

Join us this week as we talk with Stephen Gee, author of a new book on the legacy of the iconic Los Angeles architect John Parkinson. We’ll also visit with Pat Adler Ingraham, Director of the Southern California Historical Society, to discuss Charles Fletcher Lummis, early L.A. booster, librarian, preservationist and builder. Plus discussion of the much anticipated Los Angeles-themed exhibition at the Natural History Museum, some interesting community grants from the California Office of Historic Preservation, illegal alterations to the National Register Masonic Hall in Highland Park, scanning the newspapers of Northeast LA, Monterey Park considers putting a digital spin on the Brown Act, and the launch of six new free walking tours in the Flaneur & The City series to raise awareness about proposed changes to Broadway. All this and more, as Kim & Richard usher in the week of July 22nd, 2013. Photo (left to right): Charles Fletcher Lummis & John Parkinson

Join us this week as we talk with Jennifer Bastian, Visual Resources Specialist at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, about her flavorful new “Exhibition in Six Courses: Testing Recipes from the Clark’s Manuscript Collection.” We’ll also visit with Brian Kaiser, Southern California’s tile expert, to explore the glazed treasures found inside Sister Aimee Semple McPherson’s 1920s Moorish castle in Lake Elsinore. Plus discussion of North Hollywood’s long-derelict barrel-shaped Idle Hour Cafe finally being restored, Mercedes’ move into the shuttered Boeing plant in Long Beach, and the pitfalls of following Raymond Chandler’s gimlet recipe. All this and more, as Kim & Richard usher in the week of July 15th, 2013. Photo: Griffin tile panel from Sister’s Lake Elsinore Castle