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A note on the audio quality: this episode is a bit tinny, due to the learning curve on setting up multi-guest remote podcasting, and the present difficulty in quickly obtaining alternate mics and mixers. Please be patient with us. We’re working on it!
You Can’t Eat the Sunshine returns with an all-new Quarantine format, inviting folks who are passionate about Los Angeles history and historic preservation to join us for a conversation about the places that matter more than ever, as much of Los Angeles shelters in place under Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Safer At Home” directive.
Our special guests on April 16, 2020 are Alison Martino (Vintage Los Angeles), Rob Hollman (Save LACMA) and Steven Luftman (Friends of Lytton Savings / Dept. of Urban Secrets), talking about how to be a preservationist while under quarantine, and about the recent loss of two iconic Los Angeles landmarks: Stan’s Donuts in Westwood Village, shuttered forever due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and LACMA’s Bing Theatre, the first of William Pereira’s 1965 buildings to be demolished for museum director Michael Govan’s reckless, unpopular and unfunded redevelopment scheme.
Video interludes:
Visiting with Huell Howser at Stan’s Donuts
“The Death of LACMA’s Bing Theatre” by artist Gary Baseman
Pereira in Peril: LACMA campus tour with Alan Hess & Richard Schave (October 2016)
Save LACMA Board Members Oppose Wilshire Air Rights Gift To LACMA (November 2019)
City Hall Testimony Against LACMA Crossing Wilshire and Barton Phelps critiques Peter Zumthor (December 2019)
Links to learn more about our guests, the episode’s topics, and us:
Alison Martino manages the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page, where Angelenos have strong feelings about the demolition of LACMA’s Bing Theatre and the loss of Stan’s Donuts. You’ll also find her celebrating historic L.A. landmarks on Spectrum’s weekly SoCal Scene. Her website is AlisonMartino.com
Steven Luftman is a preservationist and community activist. His website is the Dept. of Urban Secrets, with information about campaigns to Save Lytton Savings and to landmark the Mendel & Mabel Meyer Courtyard Apartments, Wallace Beery House and South Genesee Duplexes.
Rob Hollman is President of the California Public Benefit Corporation Save LACMA, and you’ll want to subscribe to receive his spicy newsletter updates.
Esotouric is our historic Los Angeles tour company, presently not operating due to the pandemic. We have a newsletter, a YouTube channel, and can be followed on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Our advocacy for preserving LACMA’s historic campus is just one part of the broader Pereira in Peril campaign. Visit the webpage for links to reporting on all the threatened Pereira buildings and videos from walking tours and landmarking hearings.
Esotouric: South L.A. LACMA Satellite Site in Violation of Sweetheart City of Los Angeles Lease?
Esotouric Scoop: Before The April 9 Vote, Increasingly Urgent Citizen Emails Beg County Supervisors To Reconsider Govan/Zumthor LACMA Plan
