The City of West Hollywood will celebrate its efforts at historic preservation with an event on July 22 at Great Hall / Long Hall, the historically designated building at Plummer Park.
The event will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Attendees are asked to RSVP by email no later than July 20 to Antonio Castillo, the city’s associate planner and Historic Preservation Commission liaison, at [email protected].
“boilerplate”, you are possibly half joking but the idea of introducing features actually used by real people is very valid and should be part of the discussion for adaptive re-use if there ever will be one. But we are certainly not suffering from insufficient “park usage”, quite the contrary.
Put a “Shake Shack” or “Starbucks” in this building and see how much that does for the neighborhood’s park usage.
This looks like a celebration, not an Irish wake for the poor horse that has been beaten deader than dead. Let’s leave our old ideas, plans and animation home, move forward looking for the best ideas and have a nice time.
90069, your comment shows a stunning melange of error and vitriol. What exactly is a “Soviet Ghetto” in your imagination? Does it look somehow Spanish Colonial? The structures were built in the 1930s in the Spanish Colonial Revival style and have not been altered, yet they somehow remind you of the Soviets and/or the 1970s? Might you be projecting your disapproval of the strong presence of Russian and Russian-American families in Plummer Park onto an innocent building? You are right that, although structurally sound, the buildings are in poor condition (aka “hideous”) and yes, underutilized. But seriously, whose fault is… Read more »
@chris sanger Dear dear man….where to begin with all your misinformation? I think I will just go with THE FACTS. Not innuendos, Not my opinion, and certainly Not misinformation. Just THE FACTS: FACT #1. You stated, “the group designating basically approves anything with minimal credibility”. You do realize that the group designating as One of Casandra’s Snake’s said in a comment above, is in fact The State of California Office of Historic Preservation and the United States Dept. of the Interior, National Trust on Preservation. I would suggest if you think having a building landmarked by these two “groups” is… Read more »
Plummer Park is a disaster. It is a shame a few chronic rabblerousers are intent on halting all progress in the east end. The existing long hall and great hall look historic as in it looks as if they were plucked from a 1970s Soviet ghetto. Is it a shock that these buildings are never included in any of our City publications or marketing materials? It is because they are hideous and underutilized!
With all due respect, Mr. Sanger-Bruggeman, you are woefully misinformed. Please define “appropriate preservation”. Please explain how the “group designating” “approves anything with minimal credibility” and why you feel the State of California Office of Historic Preservation and the United States Dept. of the Interior, National Trust on Preservation, are not viable “groups”? I am with Rudolf Martin…I look forward to meeting you at the event, at which, I am told, Mayor Horvath will be unveiling the plaque designating the building. Thank you for your clarifications.
I am all in favor of appropriate preservation, but it has been shown that the group designating basically approves anything with minimal credibility. The reason is to alert officials that there might be going on. The whole designation came after the obsessed Tara folks started their anti-Heilman syndrome & made this the next cause. They destroyed the best chance for a well funded redo of a park badly in need of repair and improvement. The designation was more of a political than architectural move by the usual anti-progress and improvement cult in WeHo.
We all get to have an opinion but if we can’t agree that a unanimous national historic designation by experts that includes in-depth explanation and follows widely accepted guidelines means more than the odd unqualified and unspecified laymen’s opinion (in some cases burdened by close ties to developers) then we can’t even have an intelligent discussion. And please don’t get me started with the phony “open space” talking point. The plan that was brought forward by the city added almost none. If GH/LH was properly used we would be able to demolish the preschool trailer and put the 2 southern… Read more »
The park, which has other buildings (and superior to the Long Hall) would be better served by removing that building and creating other much needed open space.
Renovate and re-purpose these buildings asap! It has been heartening to see that they have recently re-opened to the public (its owners!!!) on many occasions in spite of their substandard condition after 30 years of mismanagement. City staff has done a great job keeping them somehow functional. Just this evening over a hundred children and parents were enjoying the courtyard and Great Hall, I had to prevent my 2-year old daughter from trying to crash the party. What better place to celebrate historic preservation than the only nationally designated historic building that the city owns? A renovated, re-purposed and well… Read more »
And hopefully common sense will prevail and it will be gone. But the silly obstructions cost the city state funds that could have elevated this park from the civic embarrassment it is.