Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

The Jazz Bakery

Are you a "Big Butter and Egg Man?" (N.B. That's a reference to a Louis Armstrong tune.) Then you need to head out on your next date to the Jazz Bakery in Culver City. The place is no longer a bakery (it's in part of the old industrial Helms Bakery). From the Jazz Bakery web site:
"...a serious, no-frills, seven-nights-a-week nonprofit listening room of international renown, where everybody who’s anybody has played; where iconic musicians turn up as regularly in the audience as on the bandstand; where just ascending the stage is a sure sign that you’ve made it into the music’s highest ranks." (from Brandt Reiter, LA Weekly, "The House that Ruth Built")

Friday, May 18, 2007

Book Heritage and Preservation in Los Angeles

In a state and country that is so young, we are often troubled to see places and buildings that are relatively young razed and demolished for something new and ordinary. We're surprised by a longing for the look of something built in 1950, maybe even 1970.

On a walk through the heart of Dublin, Ireland, I saw a memorial to the city's celebration of its millennium as a city. It's easier to define something as historic if it's been around since Ptolemy was writing history.

Thus, many in Los Angeles are perplexed when it comes to preserving places and things in our midst. We sound foolish demanding to preserve drive-in movie theaters, mom and pop restaurants, Griffith Park, or countless other mid-twentieth century places, but I absolutely sympathize.

Cut to present-day, Brentwood, a neighborhood of west Los Angeles, California.

Dutton's Bookstore (map), on San Vicente, between Bundy and Montana, is found in a rather ordinary building (despite comments below)—a flat stucco facade on a basic rectangular structure. There is a pleasant courtyard that sits in the middle of three sections of the store. Still, it is a rare gem in the decimated landscape of literary emporiums.

Dutton's is rare because it is a bookstore interested in books and authors. The staff is interested in books, the management is interested in getting you books that are not just best sellers (but are maybe classics, or of local interest, or just good reading). They host author readings and literary book groups.

They aren't interested in providing couches for you to lounge upon (did I mention that they're actually interested in selling real books?!) because they want to use their precious space for books. Though, they do have a cafe.

I know all of this to be true because my brother worked at Dutton's, and we're still patrons when we're in LA. My brother is a writer who was completing his Master's degree (with a Bachelor's in English) when he worked there (i.e. he was an intelligent resource), and yet there were co-workers who would regularly astonish him with their book knowledge. (I once went into a Border's looking for Joan Didion, and the clerk couldn't spell her last name.) Dutton's isn't a gem merely because it's independent. I worked as a clerk at an independent bookstore, and while the staff was better than average, the store was not interested in selling books. They had far more interest in getting customers to buy food in the cafe and buying trinkets and greeting cards. What resembled a bookstore was a collection intended to match the bestseller list rather than inspire or establish sufficiency. They didn't even stock The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Now, whenever I want to judge a bookstore, I make sure to see if Tom and Huck are on the shelf.


Why does Dutton's matter? Why bring it up in a post about preservation? Well, it turns out that the bookstore leases its space from Charles T. Munger, present owner of the building. According to an article on January 17 in the LA Times, Mr. Munger is...
...a founder of the Los Angeles law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson who partnered in 1978 with Warren E. Buffett to run Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a holding company; Munger's shares are worth $1.7 billion. He had been a partner with his brother-in-law, David Barry, in the San Vicente property but recently bought him out.

Munger, 83, has big plans for the property, which runs from the former Bonner School to Longs drugstore and includes del Mano Gallery and several small businesses and offices.

"It's the ultimate redevelopment site," Munger said, adding, "We've always been straight with Doug [Dutton, owner of the bookstore] and told him the property would be developed in due course. The more time goes by, the closer we are to due course."
This news came shortly after Dutton's Books and Art on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Dutton's Beverly Hills closed. Los Angeles bibliophiles came out and voiced their concern and pledged to preserve the last Dutton's. Because of the posh locale, many of these patrons are Hollywood and LA elite. Thus, their protest attracts attention. Furthermore, there is recent news that the building may be classified as a historic site. Historic review for Dutton's site - Los Angeles Times:
Four commissioners voted to follow a staff recommendation that the building warranted further investigation as a well-preserved example of mid-20th century California modern architecture. A fifth commissioner, Carlos Singer, recused himself because of his friendship with David Barry, the man who commissioned the building in 1950 and recently sold it.

Dutton's 'represents a wonderful, cherished community center,' said [architectural photographer Julius] Shulman, 96. 'There should not be a debate.'

The home to Dutton's since 1984, the building is organized around a central courtyard that has long been a neighborhood gathering spot and the setting for hundreds of book signings by the likes of Alice Walker, Margaret Atwood, Tom Wolfe and the late Kurt Vonnegut.

The applicant in the case is Diane M. Caughey, a daughter of Milton H. Caughey, the modernist architect who designed the building on San Vicente Boulevard.
I do cherish Dutton's, and I do want to preserve California architecture. I'm not sure if this building is the best case for preservation (i.e. the building itself), but I do hope that the literary establishment based there is preserved. Whether the building as it stands is necessary for that to endure, is part of the question. Nevertheless, we do tear down far too much history in California, and it is up to us (as patrons and citizens) to hold the line.

I am surprised that this gentleman, Mr. Munger, is at all interested in real estate development at this stage in his life. He's wealthy and has established his legacy. Why the battle to put up condos? If I had his fortune, I'd leave Dutton's as is. Only I'd build a massive river ride that docked at Dutton's cherished courtyard. It would be a literary journey upon a waterway that resembled the mighty Mississipp. Patrons would ride for free on river rafts, guided by actors portraying Tom, Huck, Jim, maybe even Aunt Sally, who would regale us with tales and suggestions for great reading.

An LA Times reader, M.T. Gyepes, from Pacific Palisades wrote to the Op Ed page this note, which I think says it all quite well: "Ah, the sadness and the sorrow of it all; poor L.A. -- so much money, so little refuge."

Friday, May 11, 2007

Santa Catalina Island Fire Uncontained

(Photo-LA Times)
I read recently in Sunset magazine that Catalina "is, in fact, a mountain, and would be the highest in California if three-fourths of it weren't beneath the sea." Through subduction, volcanic activity, and millions of years of metamorphism, this great island was formed. Nature works slowly, and we only see a mere glimpse of its record.
Los Angeles Times: Breaking News: "'Looks like a volcano'

Dozens of people watched the fire from the top of Signal Hill, 26 miles away. Even from that vantage point, the wall of flames on the islands were clearly seen.

'It looks like a volcano erupting,' said Kevin Lembke of Long Beach."

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Steinbeck's Still Writing

Sacbee.com is running an AP story about Los Angeles writer, Joel Eisenberg, discovering a collection of lost Steinbeck manuscripts.
"Eisenberg found a 188-page manuscript of 'Sweet Thursday,' the sequel to Steinbeck's famous 'Cannery Row'; a manuscript from another book, 'The Log from the Sea of Cortez'; an unpublished story, 'If This Be Treason,' set during the McCarthy era; the unfinished draft of a musical comedy called 'The Bear Flag Cafe' and carbon copies of 13 Steinbeck letters from 1953.

The collection will be auctioned May 24 in San Francisco in two lots. The auction could generate more than $500,000."
Congratulations, Joel. I'm happy for you and for Steinbeck fans, but I'm probably not the only one who is skeptical that these manuscripts were suddenly found. (Wouldn't the papers give off an ethereal glow? Wouldn't a chorus of angels sing when you opened the box?) I truly hope they're authentic. If they are, they'll be published soon. In the meantime, enjoy an oft neglected, but fun Steinbeck read, Travels with Charlie. It's a travel memoir about a driving across the United States with a standard poodle in a camper.

I'd like to own a place called, "The Bear Flag Cafe." I just might some day.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Catalina--There and Back Again

Last Friday, I wrote a post about my introduction to Catalina Island, a grand little island 26 or so miles off the coast of Los Angeles. I had planned on writing about the island's history today, but I was a bit overwhelmed by the vast amount of information I came across. Basically, a blog post can't do justice to even a brief overview. So here's a casual look at Catalina history, and some links to further reading.

A grade school classmate's mom worked at the Phineas Banning historical residence in Wilmington, CA, so we took a field trip to the house. How does Wilmington connect to Catalina? Well, Banning established the commercial Port of Los Angeles. The wealth that followed enabled his sons to buy the island (yes, dude, they bought it all) in 1891. They weren't the first to own or inhabit the island, nor the last. They bought the island from a gent named James Lick, a California real estate mogul who had the good sense to invest in land before there was even a sense of worth about California property. There were developers at Catalina before Lick, and there were pirates, Portuguese explorers, and Indians on the island before them. (One account mentioned the Tonva tribe at Catalina. This tribe is also known to have inhabited land down the street from the place I grew up.)

Most people who travel to the island learn quickly that the Wrigley family (of chewing gum fame) bought Catalina from the Bannings in 1919. Their development and push to create tourism on the island is quite visible today (including the beautiful art deco Casino, where, alas, there is no gambling). The Wrigleys also owned the Chicago Cubs, and they brought the club out to the island for spring training occasionally in the 40s and 50s. The island grew as a popular destination until WWII when the military annexed the island. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military was concerned about an attack on Los Angeles, and they saw fit to make Catalina an outpost and watch point. (The summer camp I attended and mentioned in the previous post used Navy land and materials. I swear my tent was used by WWII sailors, and it smelt like it had lived through a lot.)

Movie crews, tourists, full-time residents, bison and wild pigs followed. The island is sparsely populated, mostly due to the conservancy established by the Wrigley family. Next week I'll tell you how to get your family and your own smelly tent to the island for a little adventure.