September 28, 2005
Wilshire Blvd: Curating the City
The Los Angeles Conservancy turns Wilshire Boulevard into a living museum on Sunday, October 2 when it launches Curating the City, a new educational initiative designed to showcase the rich history and architecture of the Wilshire corridor. The event will begin with a self-guided architectural tour of Wilshire Boulevard, including docent-lead tours of seldom-seen spaces in six prominent historic landmarks, representing different eras and architects.
Often called LA's "symbolic spine," Wilshire is synonymous with Los Angeles. The tour will cover all of the Boulevard's 16 miles, spanning three cities from downtown to the beach, and will provide the public with a rare chance to explore and experience docent-led tours of interior spaces in important landmarks. A self-guided booklet mapping important sites along Wilshire will be published in English, Korean, and Spanish. The event is designed for participation either by car or by Metro buses along Wilshire Boulevard.
Stops along the architectural tour will include:
- The Elks Club (Alexander Curlett and Claude Beelman, 1925)
Built in the Westlake area, the club has massive statuary at the corners and top of the building and sumptuous Renaissance-styled murals by Anthony Heinsbergen. Later named the Park Plaza Hotel, its grand spaces have also served as a YMCA, a retirement hotel, a venue for punk rock bands, and a filming location. Bullocks Wilshire Building (John and Donald Parkinson, 1929)
With its soaring green terra cotta and copper tower, this historic Art Deco landmark has been beautifully restored as part of the Southwestern University School of Law campus. Wilshire Boulevard Temple (A. M. Adelman, S. Tilden Norton, and David S. Allison, 1929)
Its immense Byzantine dome (spanning 100 feet), Islamic-influenced spires, and interior murals by Hugo Ballin speak not just to its congregation but to visitors and neighbors in Wilshire Center, home to the highest concentration of historic religious buildings in the city. Johnies Coffee Shop (Armet and Davis, 1955)
This well-known coffee house exemplifies the post-World War II Googie aesthetic, with its up-swung roof and stylized façade. Wadsworth Chapel (J. Lee Burton, 1900)
The oldest building on Wilshire Boulevard, this Victorian-styled building is located at the Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles Healthcare Center. The chapel once served both Protestant and Catholic veterans. Though it is currently closed to the general public, plans for its restoration are underway. Miles Playhouse (John Byers, 1929)
The Spanish Colonial Revival playhouse was donated by civic leader J. Euclid Miles to serve the young men and women of Santa Monica. A historical display and a self-guided walking map to Palisades Park will also be at this tour stop, which is co-sponsored by the Santa Monica Conservancy.
Curating the City: Wilshire Boulevard will also include:
- A Web site (http://www.curatingthecity.org) with a searchable database of buildings, allowing visitors to create individualized tours incorporating architectural icons of Wilshire, both past and present. The site will also feature an interactive Wilshire Boulevard "Memory Book," so that members of the general public can share their personal stories and snapshots of sites along the Boulevard.
A youth outreach program that includes resources to help teachers and families use the city as a fun learning environment. There will be events oriented to families, in addition to an activity book, Kids' Guide to Wilshire, that offers a variety of entertaining and educational activities for exploring the Boulevardıs architecture. The projects will also be available online, with additional lesson plans and other resources for teachers to employ. One such resource is The Sacred Spaces of Wilshire Boulevard: A Guide for Kids, by Kids, a guide to historic religious architecture in the Wilshire Center area, written and illustrated by sixth-grade students of CityLife Downtown Charter School.
To engage and learn from a broad range of audiences and to celebrate LA's rich diversity, the Los Angeles Conservancy is partnering with local cultural, community, and educational organizations to co-present lectures, films, and related programs and to bring further attention to the wealth of activities to take place along Wilshire from October 2 through November 21.
A printed calendar highlights all activities and events by participating organizations.
"Wilshire Boulevard is considered one of the great thoroughfares of the world," says LA Conservancy Executive Director Linda Dishman. "We think it is an ideal focus for Curating the City's pilot project. The Boulevard's growth and development represent so much of what is unique and exciting about Los Angeles."
Although it began as a wealthy residential enclave over 100 years ago, Wilshire Boulevard quickly grew to accommodate commercial development oriented to the automobile. Today it is one of the most heavily traveled and diverse thoroughfares in Los Angeles, with architectural examples of every prominent type and style of the 20th century.
Curating the City will explore Wilshire Boulevard's history through its people and its buildings, from Wilshire's "founder," socialist-millionaire Henry Gaylord Wilshire, and the grand residential structures of the early 20th century, to LA's first car-centered department stores of the 1920s and Art Deco, Modern, International Style, and more recent commercial buildings.
Participants will learn interesting facts about this grand thoroughfare, including:
- Wilshire actually began in Santa Monica and near downtown in the 19th century, but did not become an unbroken boulevard until 1934.
Los Angeles' first gated community was along Wilshire Boulevard. Fremont Place, an exclusive suburban subdivision that would be called home by Hollywood luminaries such as Mary Pickford and Harold Lloyd, was developed in 1911. Its ornate stone gates still mark the entranceways from Wilshire Boulevard.
From 1920 to 1923, the area around Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive was home to one of the first dirt auto racing tracks in the U.S.
Bullocks Wilshire was the first LA department store to orient its main entrance at the back with a porte cochere and valet parking, catering to people arriving by automobile. Meticulously restored, today it is part of the Southwestern University School of Law campus. Built in 1913, the Bryson was among the elegant apartment buildings that began to displace the mansions in the Westlake area. The Talmadge (built by United Artists President Joseph Schenck for his wife Norma Talmadge) and others soon followed. Today, the Talmadge continues to thrive and the Bryson has been beautifully restored and provides low-income rental apartments. The first neon sign in the United States was imported to Los Angeles from Paris in 1924. Soon after, Wilshire Boulevard was at the center of a neon district stretching from just west of downtown towards Hancock Park. The illumination could be seen for miles. Some 22 high-rise office buildings were erected in the Wilshire Center area from 1966 to 1976. In the 1980s, scores of high-rise and high-cost condominiums were erected along the stretch of Wilshire Boulevard east of Westwood. This was dubbed the "Golden Mile" to reflect the value of the real estate.
Curating the City runs through November 21, 2005 and includes many other exciting events and activities. Visit the Curating the City website or call (213) 623-2489 for more information. Tickets for the Sunday, October 2 one-day, self-guided architectural tour of historic Wilshire Boulevard are $35 ($25 for Conservancy members and $12.50 for students under 21 with a valid ID), and may be purchased beginning September 1, by visiting http://www.curatingthecity.org or calling 213-623-CITY (2489). Advance purchase of tickets is highly recommended. $3.00 all-day bus passes are available from Metro. (visit http://www.metro.net).
The Conservancy plans to offer a new Curating the City "exhibition" every few years, organized around a different theme, geographical region, or cultural moment.
Curating the City: Wilshire Boulevard is made possible by a grant from the Getty Foundation, the philanthropic division of the J. Paul Getty Trust.
Sponsors: Metro; LA.com; 94.7, THE WAVE; K-EARTH 101; KFWB NEWS 980; 97.1 KLSX; KNX-1070 NEWSRADIO; and ABC7.
ABOUT THE LOS ANGELES CONSERVANCY:
The Los Angeles Conservancy is a nonprofit membership organization that works through education and advocacy to recognize, preserve, and revitalize the historic architectural and cultural resources of Los Angeles County. More than 8,000 members make it the nationıs largest local historic preservation organization. For more information about the Conservancy, visit http://www.laconservancy.org.
ABOUT THE GETTY:
The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation. The Getty Trust and the Getty programs are located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Additional information is available on the Getty Web site at http://www.getty.edu.
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