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New Preservation Group Meets, Will Be Advocate for Saving Historic Structures

West Hollywood Historic Preservation Organization meets Tuesday night to discuss ways save more buildings in the city, saying City Hall can't do the job since it has many other priorities besides historic preservation.

West Hollywood needs a citizens’ advocacy group pushing for historic preservation because City Hall has many other priorities. That was the message that came out of the initial meeting of the held Tuesday night.

The name of the group will likely change once it gets going, but the mission will not. West Hollywood has far too many cultural and historic treasures that need protecting to leave it to City Hall to do the job, the 20 people attending agreed.

Leaders from the Protect Plummer Park movement, the Save the Pickfair Studios movement and the West Hollywood Neighborhood Alliance (which helped save Tara) and other concerned residents came together to discuss preservation strategies.

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“It’s time to coalesce the various groups into one,” said meeting organizer Hillsman Wright of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation. “It’s time we came together to save what makes West Hollywood special.”

The group quickly decided a new survey of historic properties is needed. Wright said the city is operating on a historic survey that was done in 1989, 23 years ago. Wright said it is recommended that surveys of historic properties be done every five years.

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Stephanie Harker, who spearheaded the Protect Plummer Park movement, said that information gathering is essential, noting that important details that can be useful for preservation efforts often lay within official documents that aren’t always preservation related.

Wright agreed, saying it’s important to read Environmental Impact Reports, even if they are thousands of pages long. “That’s where the bodies are buried,” Wright said.

Attendees also agreed it is important to connect with other preservation groups in the greater Los Angeles area to get ideas on strategies and to avoid duplicating efforts.

The meeting took place at the historic chapel on the grounds of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which is located in Hollywood rather than West Hollywood. That’s because Hollywood Forever president Tyler Cassity advocates historic preservation and was able to make the space available for free.

“I joined the cause because of the Fairbanks family,” Cassity told the group, noting that Douglas Fairbanks, who founded the Pickford-Faribanks Studios (which is now known as The Lot) is buried less than 300 feet away from the chapel.

The group agreed to meet again on Saturday, June 16 at 10 a.m. at Laurel Park, 1343 N. Laurel Avenue. After that meeting, historic preservation advocate Roy Oldenkamp plans to lead people on a “wrecking ball tour” of properties in the area that are in danger of being demolished.  

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