Last Call for Cemetery Tour Tickets, Historic Engine House No. 18, Kinney Heights Tour, and more!

By Laura Meyers

1). LAST CALL! A FEW SPOTS LEFT ON LIVING HISTORY TOUR AT ANGELUS ROSEDALE CEMETERY
Saturday, September 24

The Angelus Rosedale Cemetery was founded in 1884, and is now home to many generations of Los Angeles' early citizens, representing every race, faith and creed. Every year, WAHA focuses on some of their life stories by presenting a Living History Tour at Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, featuring actor portrayals of some of the individuals buried at the cemetery.

This year's tour includes living history portrayals of Benjamin Kelsey (a gold miner and member of the Bear Flag Revolt); Thomas Douglas Stimson (lumber company magnate and builder of the famed Stimson Mansion on Figueroa); Ivey Anderson (singer with Duke Ellington); John Miller Guinn (educator, author and co-founder of the Historical Society of Southern California); and George Zobelein (owner of beer brewery).

There are a few spots left if you'd like to take this year's tour, mostly in the afternoon. However, reservations are REQUIRED - no walk-ins allowed. Cost: $22.00 general admission, $20.00 WAHA members. To get a form, where to send your money, and the tour times, log onto:

http://www.westadamsheritage.com/newsandevents.html

2). FIREHOUSE AND BETHUNE LIBRARY TOP THE AGENDA @ NANDC NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL GOVERNING BOARD MEETING Saturday, September 17 10 a.m. Child Guidance Clinic, 3787 South Vermont Ave.

The North Area Neighborhood Development Council N.C. is now meeting twice a month, on the first Thursday evening and the third Saturday morning of each month. At the next Governing Board discussion meeting, NANDC will be discussing Engine House No.18, Bethune Library, street repairs, and proposals from the Youth Committee. If you have a public safety concern on your street, you are asked to bring it to the attention of the NANDC Neighborhood Council.

Two specific discussion items (as presented on the agenda) that may be of interest to you are:

* Should the neighborhood council support a community effort to maintain the Exposition Park/Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Library as a public/community space? Should NANDC write a letter in support of this effort?

* Should NANDC enter a partnership with the West Adams Heritage Association? WAHA is submitting a proposal to manage Engine House No. 18. Should NANDC seek office space and meeting space in that building as part of the proposal?

In addition, NANDC will soon be making appointments to its Governing Board and several committee chairmanships to fill vacancies, and "motivated volunteers" are being asked to step up to that plate.

(NANDC's boundaries are generally the 10 Freeway on the north, the 110 on the east, Western on the west and Martin Luther King on the south. You are a NANDC Stakeholder if you live, work, worship, attend school and/or are a member of an organization, such as WAHA, which operates within these boundaries.)

3). WASHINGTON BOULEVARD JOINT TASK FORCE FOR A SPECIFIC PLAN MEETING
Saturday, September 17 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Washington Stop In Center, 4012 W. Washington Boulevard (at 10th Avenue)

The United Neighborhoods Neighborhood Council (UNNC) and community stakeholders are currently working together to create and implement a proposed Specific Plan for the Washington Boulevard Corridor between Normandie and Crenshaw.

Specific Plans are land use tools utilized throughout Los Angeles to help create development that is compatible with existing uses and the character of distinct neighborhoods, to enhance economic vitality, and to protect communities from nuisance uses and visual blight.

In June, 2004, the UNNC Governing Board passed a related "Vision Statement" for our community's commercial corridors. It envisions in part a neighborhood-serving, pedestrian-friendly, transit-friendly, green, sustainable, livable urban village that is sensitive to historic preservation, and compatible with the adjacent residential uses for Washington Boulevard and other streets such as Jefferson, Western and Pico.

Now a Task Force is meeting regularly to prepare a proposal. The next meeting is tomorrow, Saturday, with a primary focus of planning community outreach efforts.

If you'd like to get involved but are unable to attend tomorrow's meeting, contact Task Force chair Stevie Stern at unitedneighborhoods@yahoo.com.

The Task Force will need also volunteers to help collect data by literally walking on Washington Boulevard doing a land use survey. If you'd like to be involved in that effort, please contact UNNC Planning & Zoning Chair Laura Meyers at lauramink@aol.com.

4). OPERATION POTHOLE WILL BE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Saturday - Sunday, September 24-25

The City of Los Angeles is trying to repair 35,000 potholes in 14 weeks - and they plan to be in the West Adams ( South Los Angeles) area over the weekend of September 24-25. If you have a pothole on your block, please call 3-1-1 and mention "Operation Pothole." Tell the operator the exact location of the pothole you are reporting - and please keep track of the time/date you made the call. If the pothole wasn't repaired, and wasn't repaired properly, we will need to report THAT bit of info through the respective neighborhood councils after the fact. (For readers of the WAHA E-News who live outside of West Adams, please do dial 3-1-1 to inquire about your own repair dates - this is a citywide effort.)

5). WAHA PRESENTS: A WALKING TOUR OF THE HISTORIC WEST ADAMS NEIGHBORHOODS OF KINNEY HEIGHTS AND GRAMERCY PARK
Saturday, October 15 Noon to 4 p.m. (Last ticket sold at 3 p.m.) $30 per person*

Explore Kinney Heights and Gramercy Park, and tour the interiors of architecturally-significant properties and Cultural-Historic Monuments representing a diversity of styles. The Kinney Heights neighborhood was developed in the first years of the 20th century by Abbot Kinney, and is now a part of the West Adams Terrace HPOZ. The Gramercy Park section was laid out by the famed landscape architecture firm of Olmsted & Olmsted, founded by Frederick Law Olmsted.

Enjoy a special piece of music composed Andrew Norman to honor Frank Lloyd Wright, performed by the musicians from The Definiens Project, at one of the historic properties on tour. The piece, "Light Screens," is for flute, violin, viola, and cello, and is inspired by various windows Wright created. Check-in on tour day at 2170 West 24th Street (one block south of the 10 Freeway between Western and Arlington). This is a self-guided walking tour (please wear comfortable shoes; no heels.)

For more information or to volunteer on the tour, please call 323-732-7767.

To purchase advance tickets, please make a check payable to "WAHA" and send it, along with your name, address, phone (required) and e-mail to:

WAHA Kinney Heights Tour 2171 West 24th Street Los Angeles, CA 90018

(* WAHA members, please use the flyer enclosed in your September WAHA Matters newsletter to purchase advance tickets at the special member rate of $20 per person. The member rate is only available with the flyer.)

This tour is part of ArchiFest, a monthlong citywide celebration of Los Angeles architecture. The internationally acknowledged Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy is holding its annual conference in Los Angeles, October 19 - 23, 2005. The conference will include lectures, tours of buildings by Wright, Neutra, Schindler, Lloyd Wright, and others, receptions, as well as opportunities to meet original Wright clients and building owners. In addition, nearly two dozen historic preservation organizations, museums, and architecture-related groups are sponsoring additional events under the umbrella of "ArchiFest." Visit the Building Conservancy's website for complete details about this and other events: www.savewright.org

6). "PEA" MEETING FOR PROPOSED NEW SCHOOL ON WASHINGTON BOULEVARD
Thursday, September 22 6 p.m. Pio Pico Span School, 1512 South Arlington (at Pico)

LAUSD is proposing the construction of a new 875-seat, 70,000-square-foot elementary school (Central Region Elementary School No. 13) in Arlington Heights on the south side of Washington Boulevard running west from approximately Arlington to 3rd Avenue (excluding the gas station).

One of the issues that any new school project must analyze is the condition of the soils and ambient air at the proposed site, and how that might impact a school's construction and operation. This particular site is adjacent to a gas station on its eastern boundary and an oil drilling site across from its western boundary.

A Draft Preliminary Environmental Assessment has now been prepared for this project, for review by the California Department of Toxic Substabces Control. Copies of the draft PEA can be reviewed at the Washington Irving Library ( 4117 West Washington Blvd.), Pio Pico School, or by downloading it from www.laschools.org.

LAUSD will hold a public meeting on Thursday, September 22 for interested people to attend and present their oral comments.

For more information on the PEA, contact Anthony Espinoza, LAUSD OEHS Project Manager, at 213-633-8805.

7). DOHENY MANSION TOURS
Saturday, October 8 (see schedule/reservations info below)

After two years of sold-out tours of the Doheny Mansion, a new season has been announced for tours during 2005 and 2006 of this legendary residence at Mount St. Mary's College in Historic West Adams. The tours will be given at 9, 9:45, 10:30, and 11:15 a.m. on the following Saturdays:

October 8, 2005 November 5, 2005 January 28, 2006 March 18, 2006 April 22, 2006 June 17, 2006 July 15, 2006 October 14, 2006 November 11, 2006

The home of oil baron Edward L. and Carrie Estelle Doheny for almost 60 years, the Gothic Renaissance-style Victorian mansion was designed by architects Theodore Augustus Elsen and Sumner P. Hunt in 1898. This well-maintained home boasts a marble-pillared great hall, the Pompeian Room with imported Siena marble and a Tiffany iridescent glass dome, furniture copied by permission of the Italian government from Pompeian furniture in a Rome museum, and much of the original furnishings in its other opulent rooms. Visitors will step back in time as they learn the history of this fascinating family, and the lifestyle of rich and famous Angelenos more than 100 years ago.

Docent-led groups limited to 20 people will visit the first floor of the Mansion and outside surroundings. The cost of the tour is $25 per person and reservations are a must. No children under 12, please.

Contact Angelic Rome at 213-477-2962 to book reservations or for further information. Proceeds will benefit the preservation of this historic residence.

8). SUBMIT YOUR NEWS

We welcome your contributions to the WAHA E-News and West Adams Heritage Association's monthly publication, "West Adams Matters." Please understand that we do have deadlines. Material for the print newsletter should be submitted no later than the 1st of the prior month (i.e.: April 1 for the May issue). If your event is scheduled for early in a month, we suggest you request coverage for the prior month (i.e.: May issue for a June 3 event), because it's entirely possible that not all of our members will have received their newsletter by then (we do try hard…). We reserve the right to edit submitted material. For the WAHA E-News, we prefer to only send it out once or twice a month, circa the 5th and the 20th. Please don't wait until two days before an event to let us know about it. It may not be sent out. EXCEPTION: If you suddenly hear of an important city hearing or other public meeting that is important to West Adams, we will endeavor to send out a special bulletin. Submit your material to Laura Meyers, editor, lauramink@aol.com