Quote:
Originally Posted by pesto
That's a sign of a city that is desperate for development and willing to sacrifice its future for anything now.
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pesto, but in a way, can you blame them...at least for being desperate? however, I think what you would consider a sacrifice & what I would consider a sacrifice would be 2 different things. for instance, if this historic bldg weren't preserved but instead torn down to make way for some proj merely cuz it was a new proj, THAT would be a huge, totally unacceptable sacrifice to me...
Quote:
With $1-million restoration, the show goes on at Palace Theatre
L.A. Historic Theatre Foundation hosts a public tour of the theater, which first opened in 1911 as a vaudeville stage.
(Anne Cusack, Los Angeles Times / July 14, 2012)
By Rick Rojas, Los Angeles Times
July 15, 2012
The Palace Theatre is indeed a place fit for royalty. Massive murals lord over the auditorium. Cornucopia moldings hang over the exits. And frescos cover the theater's domed ceiling, a homage to an era when going to a show was truly a glamorous affair.
The owners of the Palace Theatre, a name it adopted not long after, completed a $1-million renovation last year to restore the luster lost to time and inattention. The Palace is one of four historic theaters on Broadway in downtown purchased by the late real estate magnate and philanthropist Ezat Delijani, whose family continues to maintain and restore them. The family also owns the Los Angeles, State and Tower theaters.
The Palace had faded to a dismal state, said Ed Kelsey, who led the renovation. Leaks in the roof let water trickle in, causing severe damage throughout the building. It had become so humid inside that the paint was peeling. And coats of paint, layers of flooring and new fixtures added over the years, until the theater was closed in 1999, had lacquered over the original craftsmanship.
To reveal what had once been there, the renovation became something like detective work. Sometimes it required incredible precision: A team had to examine an old photo with a microscope to spot the pattern on the wallpaper so they could re-create it; for the carpet, one person had to scrub off years of wear and dirt until the design was evident. Untangling a skein of electrical wiring from 1911 was certainly a tedious chore.
At other times, they had to be blunt objects, breaking through walls and floors to find the treasure underneath. "Hit it with a hammer and see what's inside," Kelsey said. They discovered the original tiled entryway in the lobby and wood panels in the gentlemen's lounge. A bannister of concrete had a brass handrail inside.
"What a job! What a job! Look at the detail work," Carole Koenig, 60, said as she examined the molding. "The kind of quality craftsmanship, they don't make anymore."
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when someone mentions that the city might be desperate, it's not as easy to understand what would cause that reaction unless someone is actually visiting the hood. iow, unless someone is directly in dt, there are many pockets of really
rundown or vacant sites, that are easily forgotten or lost in the crowd.
for instance, on the occasions I've gone by this section of 8th at olive sts, I only realize at that moment what is there cuz I otherwise tend to forget how
it is. It's easy for outsiders-----who may be looking at the big picture from miles away------to overlook such abandoned, really
old bldgs that desperately need to be cleaned up.
maps.google.com
^ I wonder what is the history of this bldg & whether any devlpr or its current owner is looking into finally fixing it up.
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