City Opts For 'Flexibility' on Great Hall, Long Hall

There were two distinct narratives spun on Monday evening, as the West Hollywood City Council considered the urging of residents to preserve Plummer Park's Great Hall and Long Hall.

Longtime West Hollywood resident Jeanne Dobrin, 92, told the council that as a child she would see men selling apples for 5-cents apiece in front of the buildings, which were constructed in 1936 through President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA).

"It would be criminal to tear those buildings down," Dobrin said.

West Hollywood Preservation Alliance President Jennifer Dunbar spoke of the building's simple and austere Spanish Colonial style as a loving reference to California's early history.

"It is a significant building with a special history. It is one of few remaining examples of the WPA in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks, Camps and Playgrounds," she said. "It was especially designed to show a sense of pride in the early history of Los Angeles; it was designed for public celebrations and gatherings; it was designed for this unique park and its park users as a centerpiece of the park."

However, Councilman John Heillman said the Great Depression-era buildings were now simply depressing.

"Nobody is disputing the historic aspect of these buildings; I was in them before cityhood. I know them quite well. They were terrible buildings to work in then; they're still terrible buildings," he said.

Heilman complained that Great Hall and Long Hall were a magnet for loitering by the homeless and that courtyard between them often smelled of urine.

Ultimately, it was Heilman's narrative that won out, with the board voting 4-1 in favor of plan to recommend against the Great Hall and Long Hall being recognized as historic landmarks. John D'Amico cast the dissenting vote.

The discussion of the 76-year-old buildings was prompted by the California Historical Resource Commission's (HRC) pending review consideration of Dunbar's application to have them added to the National Register of Historic Places. The HRC will meet to consider Great Hall and Long Hall on May 1.

The city's plans to renovate Plummer Park and demolish the buildings stalled in 2011, as community outcry reached a fever pitch and funds to pay for the ambitious project dried up.

Supporters of Great Hall and Long Hall have pushed the city to consider an alternative renovation plan, which would preserve and make use of the buildings.

However, even if the HRC were to recommend that Great Hall and Long Hall be added to the national register, the city would retain the authority to demolish the buildings, as the Plummer Park renovation plan had already undergone a California Environmental Quality Act [CEQA] Review in 2010.

The CEQA review notes that "overriding concerns," such as the desire to establish more open space in the park, outweighed the buildings' historic character.

Even with that authority, though, city council member Abbe Land noted that the board would sacrifice a measure of flexibility should the HRC find the buildings eligible to be added to the national register. Were that to happen, any new plan to renovate Plummer Park would need to take the buildings' historic status into consideration.

"The [HRC] will decide whatever they decide. if they decide not to register it, that's fine. If they decide to register it, they do," she said. "It's better to have flexibility to do what's needed to be done."

D'Amico was the one Councilmember who seemed eager for a compromise. He proposed that the board submit no recommendation whatsoever, and allow the unbiased HRC to inform the city of the buildings' significance.

"I'm convinced that this deserves a thorough review by the state, as a non-biased party, to determine what we have on this site," he said. "It may be that I have stoped seeing what we have in that park, and only see the politics of what we have in that park."