Hollywood Heritage is a non- profit organization dedicated to preservation of the historic built environment in Hollywood and to education about the early film industry and the role its pioneers played in shaping October 2009 www.hollywoodheritage.org Volume 28, Number 2 Hollywood’s history. Cultural Heritage Ordinance Update Passes the City Planning Commission By Brian Curran cultural monuments, early notifi ca- tions, as a rollback of vital protections major victory for preservation tion of property owners of the desig- of historic interiors many of which A occurred last month with the nation process, and the increase of the are not accessible to the public. Under approval of the updated Cultural Cultural Heritage Commission from the current ordinance all interiors are Heritage Ordinance. On September 5 to 7 members, which will include at protected and subject to regulation. 10th the City Planning Commission, least one owner of a designated resi- In order to address these concerns, after hearing the testimony of over 50 dence and one owner of a designated the Planning Department and the speakers, approved the revised updat- commercial building. Offi ce of Historic Resources held ed ordinance in a vote of 7 to 1. The Approval of the revised ordinance a series of public and private meet- ordinance update, which has been in was not without diffi culty. A small ings resulting in hours negotiations the works for two years, seeks to add number of monument owners lead by between property owners and their greater protections to the city’s histor- the Central City Association, whose representatives and a coalition of ic cultural monuments while encour- membership includes four HCM preservation organizations including aging greater participation of proper- owners, delayed the approval process. Hollywood Heritage, the LA Con- ty owners in the designation process. Disagreement largely revolved around servancy, the West Adams Heritage The most signifi cant change in the issue of the regulation of interi- Association and the Highland Park the revised ordinance is the ability ors, both commercial and residential, Trust. The result was an agreement, of the Cultural Heritage Commis- which the property owners wanted which dropped a newly proposed Cer- sion to completely deny a demolition restricted to only publicly accessible tifi cate of Appropriateness procedure permit for a designated monument, spaces such as theaters, lobbies, res- for interior alterations in exchange for rather than just delay the action for taurants etc. or in the case of private the current, more fl exible, system of 180 days as is stipulated in the cur- residences, traditionally public rooms review, which covers all interiors. rent ordinance. Other changes to the such as foyers, living rooms or dining During the fi nal hearing, several of ordinance include the clarifi cation of rooms. The preservation community the property owners fl ip fl opped on the the designation criteria for historic denounced these proposed restric- agreement opposing it at the eleventh hour, citing procedural and California Environmental Quality Act concerns Evenings @ The Barn as well as continuing to try to make the argument that interiors regulation Returns for New Season would hinder development and re-use ollywood Heritage resumes its comic Eddie Cantor in November, of historic buildings despite the fact Hpopular Evening @ The Barn on and the launch of Marc Wanamaker's that hundreds of historic structures Wednesday October 14th at 7:30 PM new book Hollywood 1940-2008 in have been restored and adaptively re- with a program celebrating the 100th December. Separate stories on pages used in Hollywood, downtown and anniversary of L.A.'s fi rst movie stu- 5, 7 and 11 offer detailed descrip- throughout the city. In the end the dio. Two other programs have been tions. We look forward to seeing you commission decided for the compro- announced – an evening devoted to on these Evenings @ The Barn mise and the retention of the current legendary Broadway, movie and TV rules on interiors noting their success continued on page 6 Creating Museum Awareness Through www.hollywoodheritage.org BOARD OF DIRECTORS Cooperation Andrew Schwartz Richard Adkins President Much in the tradition Empress Ma- ria Theresa established when she sent Richard Adkins her children as husbands and wives Vice President to the crowned heads of Europe in the 18th century ("Let others wage Marc Wanamaker war; you, happy Austria, marry!"), Secretary The Hollywood Heritage Museum has embarked on an active program Aaron Epstein of loaning artifacts from our perma- Treasurer nent collection to institutions who mount Hollywood history exhibits. Robert S. Birchard This is due to limitations of size and facilities at our own museum. Claire Bradford The first such loan was in Janu- ary, to the "Douglas Fairbanks, the Brian Curran First King of Hollywood" exhibit Marian Gibbons jointly assembled by the Los Ange- A recent donation – by Mrs. Jan Severeid of les Natural History Museum and the Fairfax Station, Virginia, is a newspaper related Laurie Goldman Academy of Motion Picture Arts and to Dorothy Gish, a period shawl won by her Sciences at the Academy's Wilshire aunt, Monna Hall (pictured). David Greim Blvd. fourth floor gallery. Holly- Randy Haberkamp wood Heritage Museum Items from Calling All (Potential) "The Iron Mask" were displayed Doug Haines along with Watson family artifacts Volunteers! from The Thief of Bagdad and The ollywood Heritage is currently George Kiel Black Pirate previously displayed at offering volunteer opportunities H Christy Johnson McAvoy the museum. for museum docents, walking tour In July we loaned Mary Pickford guides, and many other positions. If Alan Simon items to the Natural History Muse- you have (or can make) some free um's special display accompanying time, want to meet like-minded pres- Stan Taffel the Alex Film Society's screening of ervationists, and have a passion for Sparrows. bringing Hollywood’s history to the Valerie Yaros Currently we have artifacts from public, please call our office at (323) Randy Haberkamp the silent version of Ben Hur on 874-4005, or call George at (323) Silent Society Director display for the Academy's "Irving 465-6716. Mary Sullivan Thalberg – Creating the Hollywood Volunteer docents are asked to Director of Membership Development Studio System, 1920–1936." work one day (or more) a month for John Clifford Loaning items promotes coopera- about 4 hours. We have visitors from Newsletter and Web Site Editor tion between institutions and creates around the country and around the awareness of our organization and world who are drawn to early Hol- Printed by Nonstop Printing 6140 Hollywood Blvd., museum to audiences we may nor- lywood. Hollywood, CA 90028 mally not reach. With that increased Don’t worry if you aren’t an expert Hollywood Heritage Newsletter is published awareness, viewers at those exhibits on Hollywood history. Just come in periodcally by Hollywood Heritage, Inc., may visit our site and participate in and see what you’ve been missing. P.O. Box 2586, Hollywood, CA 90078 our programs and become members. See you at the Barn! 323 874-4005. 2 Hollywood Heritage Newsletter | October 2009 Ted is our “go to” guy – always there in a pinch. He has been instrumental Meet the Hollywood in working with the LAPD in reliev- ing vagrancy problems at the Muse- Heritage Docents! um. Ted is currently using his high s an all-volunteer organization Hollywood Heritage is entirely dependent tech skills to restore the badly de- Aon the generous donations of time given by our volunteer Museum do- graded introductory film created for cents. We would not be able to keep our Museum open, much less survive as Hollywood Heritage 25 years ago. an organization, without their dedication. Here is a brief introduction to our Tracy Terhune – Tracy is an avid corps of volunteers. Rudolph Valentino historian and col- Richard Adkins – three-time president and current vice president of Hol- lector and has authored 2 books on lywood Heritage, Richard came to Los Angeles from Holyoke, Mass. as a Valentino. He loves classic movies boy (an “Air Force brat”). He worked in commercials as a child actor and and is an avid reader. Tracy currently came to love old Hollywood. Today, Richard works as a graphic designer for works for Universal Studios and is a a film prop house specializing in vintage and historic period productions. former cast member of Disneyland – He is currently writing a book on the life and career of the famous costume The Happiest Place on Earth. If you designer Adrian. stop by the Museum when Tracy is Nick Beck – Nick is a retired journalism professor who has also worked for there, you will be sure to meet his UPI, covering boxing in the Olympic Games in 1960, 1964 and 1968. Nick “co-docent”, Brody, the wonder dog! collects books and has world-class collections of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Johnathon Daugherty – Anoth- Hemingway, Christopher Isherwood and Gore Vidal, including many signed er native of Hollywood, Johnathon and inscribed first printings of each. He is the author of Budd Schulberg: a was an early volunteer for Holly- Bio-Bibliography. Nick docents at the Museum every Thursday. wood Heritage in the 1980s, and Mary Mallory – Mary arrived in Los Angeles 18 years ago after receiv- we’re delighted to have him back. ing a Master’s Degree in Film from the University of Texas at Austin. She Johnathon’s early experiences lead- is currently employed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. ing walking tours for Hollywood Mary loves silent movies! She is a photo archivist and writes theatre reviews Heritage inspired him to create a for local papers. successful business as a tour guide, George Kiel – Born and raised in Alliance, Ohio, George always knew the specializing in customizing tours stork should have dropped him in Hollywood, and he got here as fast as he for individual groups.