[Update] Heritage and Hope at the Mafundi Building in Watts

Trudi Sandmeier 0:00
Hey, Save As listeners, co-host Trudi Sandmeier here. We’re bringing you another encore episode from our first season, this one on the Mafundi Building in Watts. It’s had a few exciting updates, and our producer Willa Seidenberg went and got the scoop. So stay tuned after the update for the original episode. Here’s Willa.

Willa Seidenberg 0:22
Thanks, Trudi. I’m here with Rita Cofield of the nonprofit group Friends at Mafundi. That’s the driving force behind saving the Mafundi Building in Watts. Welcome back to Save As, Rita.

Rita Cofield 0:37
Thanks, Willa. It’s good to be back.

Willa Seidenberg 0:39
I think this is your third time on the podcast at least.

Rita Cofield 0:42
Oh my gosh, I’m a veteran.

Willa Seidenberg 0:44
Yes, you are a regular. Since our original episode aired in 2021, you have been hired by the Getty Conservation Institute. So I’d like to start with you telling us what you’re doing there.

Rita Cofield 0:59
Well, it’s an extension of the work that I have been doing in the community with the Mafundi Institute. I’m working on a project called African American Historic Places Los Angeles. And it is a joint project between the city of Los Angeles’s Office of Historic Resources and Getty Conservation Institute that builds on their previous work of SurveyLA, one of the most comprehensive surveys done in any major city. We will be taking one of the context statements that came from that SurveyLA work called the African American History of LA context statement. And building on the context statement, including more sites, and even looking at some additional themes to include. We will add to historic-cultural monument list right now, there’s only 4% of the almost 1300 sites are associated with African Americans. So we want to add to that list, along with providing cultural preservation strategies for three historically African American neighborhoods.

Willa Seidenberg 2:09
We’ll put a link to the Getty Institute’s project on our website, it’s exciting to hear how what you’re doing for your paid work is is intersecting with your passion, which has been the Mafundi Institute. For those who have not heard the original episode, can you just really briefly tell us what it is, and I’m hoping people will, you know, keep listening, but just a quick description of the building and why it’s so important to the community of Watts.

Rita Cofield 2:44
Sure, the Mafundi Building or its historic name is the Watts Happening Cultural Center. And the Watts Happening Cultural Center was one of the most prominent cultural arts centers in any Black neighborhood anywhere at the time of its existence from 1970 to 1975. And it was built for the Mafundi Institute, the cultural arts organization that came out of the Watts Rebellion of 1965. And those folks got together and decided that there should be a community art center with free classes in all forms of art, from photography to dance. So the building is important to the community. One because it’s one of the remaining remnants of what positive institutions came out of the ’65 Rebellion. It’s also very few arts organizations. We have the Watts Towers Art Center, but the Mafundi Institute is one of the oldest institutions. The organization that I am the Executive Director of Friends at Mafundi, want to revive the Mafundi Institute and continue those arts and culture programs.

Willa Seidenberg 4:33
We at Save As really have a special place in our hearts for this episode about Mafundi not only because it was the finale for our very first season, but it’s also the specialness of of this place and the fact that until you came along and really started helping out, it didn’t get the love that it should have gotten but it’s starting to be recognized as the important place that it is. So can you tell us what’s been happening in the almost two and a half years since we last talked?

Rita Cofield 5:09
It feels like a lot is happening at a very slow pace. First, we were able to hire a preservation consultant to do the national designation for the Mafundi Building. I wasn’t able to be there, but through Zoom, to hear the commissioners response to this building, and its cultural significance and wanting more sites like this to be designated, it was just really it was one surprising, because at that level, you know, you kind of figure Oh, they want architectural significance. But it was just like the local designation, it was a slam dunk, it was no question about its significance, and not only to the community of Watts, but also to a broader understanding of, you know, the history and culture, the history and culture of art, of Black art, of Black institutions of Los Angeles, and, of course, to the to the community of Watts. So it was really great to see their reaction.

Willa Seidenberg: Oh, wow,

Rita Cofield:

We had a discussion in which name should be on the nomination, whether it was the Watts Happening Cultural Center, or the name, that sort of the city penned on it, which was the Watts Neighborhood Center, because of the controversy, with the name Watts Happening Cultural Center because of its association with some members of the original team that were considered outliers or agitators. Friends at Mafundi thought it was very important to connect the Watts Happening Cultural Center with its predecessor, and the fact that it came out of the Watts Happening Coffeehouse, which is where a lot of organizations like the Mafundi Institute, and the Watts Writers Workshop were birthed. Those who are accepting the applications and are looking at the applications at the national level, understand that, that those projects are as much about community as they are about just a designation. And that was really good to hear. Because at the end of the day, these designations go into a record, but the building is still in a community. It’s still an active community and a community that knows or is starting to know its history and to be very proud of that history. So we wanted that connection to its origins, to be very present in the designation and in the title of the designation. So we’re just waiting for it to be recorded. We’re almost there. Now we’ll have the local designation as well as the national designation. So now we hope that this that the city will be able to apply for federal funding.

Willa Seidenberg 8:16
I think that’s so exciting and such inspiration for not only the Watts community but other communities around the country that aren’t recognized. I noticed that the Los Angeles Conservancy recognized the Watts Coffee House as a legacy business, which is really great. You want to talk just briefly about the coffee house. I mean, we talk about it in the episode, but what does this recognition mean for the coffee house?

Rita Cofield 8:47
The Watts Coffee House is an homage to the original Watts Happening Coffee House and the Watts Coffee House has been inside the Mafundi Building since 1997. So it is an integral part of of the building. It’s really great. It’s a step back in time of folks that came through there have artists of you know performers and Desiree Edwards, you know, has a connection to the community that you go in and it’s like Cheers – everybody knows your name.

Willa Seidenberg 9:20
Who are you?

Rita Cofield 9:22
Am I Norm? I don’t know which character I am. But you know, you go in there and you hear them yelling orders in the kitchen and yell back in the kitchen like you know, like it’s your kitchen. And the and the folks there that are serving are really sweet and everybody knows who they are. There are regulars there. The coffee house is an anchor tenant and Desiree Edwards understands the connection between service to the community and the preservation of that building. Sadly, it has been closed for about six months now to mitigate some leakage that was from that rainstorm that we got. So it has been temporarily closed, you know, and people like are calling me going Rita, what’s happening with the coffee house? I’m like just hang on, it’s not it’s not closed permanently, we’re just sort of fixing it up. So they are eager to return.

Willa Seidenberg 10:22
So now that you’re on the verge of getting federal designation, what kind of funds will be available to Mafundi? And what would you do with that money?

Rita Cofield 10:33
Well, I’ll tell you another exciting thing is that FAM (Friends at Mafundi) and the City Bureau of Engineering applied for a grant. It’s a Conserving Black Modernism grant, and it’s collectively a $3.1 million grant, in partnership between Getty Foundation, and the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to preserve modern architecture by black architects and designers. Mafundi Institute is perfect!

Willa Seidenberg: It certainly is.

Rita Cofield

We applied for that grant to do a historic structures report to see you know exactly what needs to be done. And that’s that was number one. We want to restore the Mafundi Building, but we need to know what it’s going to take to restore it. What are what are what are the things that it needs. And USC’s, with the help of Peyton Hall and his materials conservation class, put together a preservation maintenance plan for the building. So we’ll be using that as a foundation as well.

Willa Seidenberg 11:38
And we’ll be hearing all about that in the original episode that will be coming up after this update.

Rita Cofield 11:46
Yes. So the Conserving Black Modernism Grant will allow the city to do a historic structures report and may, it may be some funds left over to do some programming analysis. And then our new Councilman Tim McOsker came out in the open and said he’s very supportive of the community center remaining in and for the community. What that means exactly, we don’t know. But Friends at Mafundi are, you know, continuing to update him, you know, on the programming that we would suggest. We’d like to run the programming to make sure that it stays within, you know, the parameters of a Cultural Arts Center that’s for the whole community, even though it was you know, a Black cultural arts centers, anybody can take dance, anybody can, you know, take a photography course. But celebrating those artists that came out of that building, because they had nowhere else to go? Because White institutions were shutting them out.

Willa Seidenberg 12:46
This is truly inspiring to hear the progress you’ve made since that original episode.

Rita Cofield: Yeah, thank you.

Willa Seidenberg: So what can we in the Save As community do to help Mafundi reach its goals?

Rita Cofield 13:00
Well, I think we are going to continue to need folks to get the word out. And when we have events, when the Coffee House is reopened, please come down. Grab a salmon croquet and French toast when you come down and just continue to support the things that are happening. You can stay connected with the project through FAM, we have a website friends@mufundi.org. There are updates on that website. And we have a link to the Watts Happening Cultural Center, which is an arm of support that will be for raising funds for the building. And then we have a connection on the website to Desiree’s Watts Coffee House. Soon we will be raising funds for support.

Willa Seidenberg 13:49
Well Rita, thank you so much. We will put links to the organizations you mentioned on our website, and congratulations for all the amazing work you’ve been doing.

Rita Cofield 14:01
Thank you. Well, it’s been amazing that you guys are continuing to do the work that you’re doing at Save As and bringing sites that people are not familiar with, and topics and themes that people aren’t familiar with. So kudos to you folks.

Willa Seidenberg 14:17
Thanks, Rita. And now keep listening for the original episode.

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Trudi Sandmeier 00:08
This is Save As, a podcast that glimpses the future of heritage conservation through the work of graduate students at the University of Southern California. I’m Trudi Sandmeier, Director of Graduate Programs in Heritage Conservation, and an associate professor of practice in architecture at USC.

Cindy Olnick 00:24
And I’m Cindy Olnick, a communications pro with a passion for historic places and a mission to help people save them.

Trudi Sandmeier 00:30
Today’s our season finale! And we have a humdinger of a topic today, the Watts Happening Cultural Center, known as the Mafundi building, in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Cindy Olnick 00:45
Yes. It’s at 1827 East 103rd Street, about half a mile from the Watts Towers. The Mafundi building was the focus of USC’s Materials Conservation class this term, so we’re gonna nerd out on materials. But that’s only part of this story. Everything we talk about on Save As is special, but this building is perfect for the season finale because it embodies so many aspects of heritage conservation. It’s got everything: an architectural pedigree, a very rich cultural and social history, a community fighting to preserve it. It’s even a family affair. The students got to talk with Gail Kennard, the daughter of architect Robert Kennard. She now runs her dad’s firm, which makes it the longest-running Black-owned architecture firm west of the Mississippi.

Trudi Sandmeier 01:48
And we know a lot about Robert Kennard, in part because of the groundbreaking work of one of our heritage conservation alumni, Jerome Robinson, who wrote his thesis on Robert Kennard and really set the stage for a long overdue acknowledgment of his work, of Kennard’s work, and that of Art Silvers as well, who was also involved in the Mafundi project. And, sadly, we lost Jerome in March, far too soon, but he is with us in spirit. And we dedicate this episode to his memory.

Cindy Olnick 02:25
And we will make sure his work continues. He’s a dear friend. And he’s with us today.

Trudi Sandmeier 02:32
So, let’s get to the story here. This is a good old-fashioned case of preservation drama playing out as we speak, as is often the case in heritage conservation. This is a story of politics, and money, and community. So hang on to your hats and glasses, and let’s take a listen to the story of the Mafundi building in Watts.

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Cindy Olnick 03:02
I’d like to welcome the USC Mafundi dream team to Save As. Let’s start with you, Peyton.

Peyton Hall 02:38
I’m Peyton Hall. I’m an adjunct professor in the Heritage Conservation program at the School of Architecture at USC. I teach a course on materials conservation, consistently for these 20 years, which is an introduction to, as I like to say, all materials and all systems in 16 weeks or less.

Cindy Olnick 03:32
But your class has always been about more than just materials.

Peyton Hall 03:36
USC Architecture has a wonderful building science program. And we’re very allied fields, the difference is, and I’ve always felt this, because I practice in the field, that the meaning in buildings and their materials comes from their significance. So it may sound a little odd, but actually, it makes a difference, whether you’re a brick in a brand new non-significant building, or whether you’re a brick that’s helping to convey to us a place that has lots of important history and associations.

Cindy Olnick 04:1 2
And what is the difference between a brick and a historic brick?

Peyton Hall 04:15
It’s all about people. And the bricks that represent the people who made them, who are part of our material culture, or who were there — were selected by the architect, were built by the builder, were there when, you know, a really interesting person was living and doing things in that building. That’s different than just any old brick. And we want our kids to see those bricks and to associate them with a time and a place and a person.

Cindy Olnick 04:48
I’m a big fan of patina as well. I love it when buildings show their age. I know showing your age isn’t that popular in Los Angeles, but I like it.

Peyton Hall 04:56
Oh yes it is. We’re selling the point that buildings have character and age is one of them.

Cindy Olnick 05:02
That’s right. You’ve also seen quite a trajectory of students in the course, because you’ve been teaching it really since it began, you were the first person to teach it, correct?

Peyton Hall 05:12
Yes, this accumulation of years and people, I think, means a whole lot to the school and to the city and to the region. And where that thought comes is that I keep running into and hearing about our graduates. Some of them are working for nonprofits, they’re practicing privately and in companies that I work with. Some of them are government officials, they’re planners in our cities.

Cindy Olnick 05:43
Wow.

Peyton Hall 05:44
So it all feels really good because I think we have a generation of graduates who have changed the landscape of practice in Los Angeles.

Cindy Olnick 05:56
Yeah, absolutely. It’s great to see and it’s great to get your perspective and we’ll see many more students like this to come, thanks to your recent very generous donation that will create the School of Architecture’s first heritage conservation scholarship fund. So thank you very much.

Peyton Hall 06:13
You’re welcome. That’s my shot at significance is doing something for the future.

Cindy Olnick 06:20
I think you’ve done plenty, and you’re not done yet. So again, going back to this class, in addition to all the various aspects of the materials themselves, you have really used this course over the years to create public benefit, community benefit and help bring public attention to these buildings. And there are examples, such as the First Baptist Church in Los Angeles, the Sanchez Adobe, Will Rogers State Park… So how did that come about?

Peyton Hall 06:53
A case study has always been a component since the beginning. Because in addition to looking at the brick, let’s say, we’re really looking at a system of materials that comes together in a building, and they interact. So getting into a building, learning how to observe, how to read a building, how to document and how to communicate those things, and then seeing how they all come together. My favorite fancy word for this is gestalt, but hopefully, at the end of the class, you see that all these pieces come together, and we understand how a building works and how people use it, and how we keep it for the future. So in the beginning, that was, So here’s a really interesting building that will have a lot of opportunities for students. And then along the way, it was easy to notice that some of these buildings, the buildings need help, the owners need help, the public needs to know more about this place. I’m really excited now that I know about it. We’re looking for interesting places now that are just not architecture, but are important places for people and communities.

Cindy Olnick 08:11
The way you were talking about all the elements of a building coming together reminded me of how heritage conservation works in communities overall, because you have these different places that come together, all these little stories come together to tell a big story and really have an effect on the community and vice versa. So you basically choose one building and focus on that building over the course of that term, correct?

Peyton Hall 08:35
There is a case study that the students are introduced to early so while they are undertaking their week-by-week look at bricks and plaster and wood and metals, they’re also starting to look at this building system. And they have a specific assignment and how they’re how their lectures relate to that assignment. And very much so in a case like the Mafundi building. So we are elevating the appreciation and the understanding of the significance of these places, while we’re looking at the repair problems.

Cindy Olnick 09:18
So the Mafundi building is known by many names, and it was the building for this particular term. So tell me, why did you choose it?

Peyton Hall 09:28
More and more, we’re thinking about what are buildings that represent more and broader elements of Los Angeles, or even of the part of the city that USC is located in, that tell different kinds of stories than the ones we started with. What’s been happening in Watts in the past 50 to 75 years? What about this African American architect, who is probably the best known to many outside of Paul Williams, what about Robert Kennard? Let’s look at these different places and people and learn more about different parts of our city that have not been, you know, on the tips of our tongues. And now we’re learning more about and appreciating more about why this is such a great, interesting city. It’s not just about classical revival in the early 20th century. It’s a lot of other interesting things.

Cindy Olnick 10:32
So Peyton, how do you conduct a materials conservation course in a pandemic, when you can’t actually go investigate the building?

Peyton Hall 10:44
You have no choice. It took a lot of thinking and self-encouragement to say you can do this by, you know, should you do this? Yes. Let’s go out to the site and take many dozens of photos and try to give them at least the visual connection that they would have had on their own. And beyond that, having — and I learned this from doing some webinars we put together with other people — to do a remote video connection to Zoom, where you can walk around and show people things, and interact with the students, have them ask questions, and say, Oh, that’s, that’s my column, can you can zoom in on the bottom there, I want to see what’s going on. So the students had a recording of that as well. They were resourceful. They were observant. They took stills from the video, as well as the still photos, and learned from that. And when it worked, that was the great victory of the semester.

Cindy Olnick 11:53
So at the end of the course, you end up with all this, you know, you’ve got a lot of information about this building and some recommendations. So what happens to all that information?

Peyton Hall 12:04
Each of our 14 students is producing a topic report, whether it’s air conditioning, or Coffee House collections, those chapters are assembled into a report. We want people to see this report and say the fact that someone paid attention to this building means there must be something there.

Cindy Olnick 12:30
All right, well let’s learn about this great building.

Arabella Delgado 12:33
Hi, my name is Arabella Delgado. I’m a first year PhD student in American studies and ethnicity. And then I’m also pursuing a graduate certificate in heritage conservation.

Cindy Olnick 12:43
So, your part of this project was looking at the history and significance of this building, which of course would take all day to really get into. But just give us a snapshot. It was part of the redevelopment in Watts in the 1960s, right?

Arabella Delgado 12:57
So the Watts Rebellion happens in 1965. It’s this protest against the lack of resources in Watts. And as a result, there was international attention. And so city officials in Los Angeles decided, you know, we have to invest in this neighborhood. Of course, that didn’t go fully implemented, as that goes with many places all across the country. The Mafundi building was opened in 1970, and it opened as the Watts Happening Cultural Center. It’s gone by different names throughout its history, but that’s how it started. And it originally housed the Mafundi Institute, which is why a lot of people refer to it as the Mafundi building. But it also became the home of other cultural organizations. And it’s notably the home of the Watts Coffee House, which has since reopened, and you can go visit there today if you’d like.

And at the time of its opening, you could find any type of way to perform artistic expression. There were art, music, dance, poetry, drama classes. They had set construction, sculpture, even martial arts and sewing. So basically anything. It also housed the Writers Workshop, which was started by screenwriter Budd Schulberg. [Correction: The workshop leaders helped with programs at the building but were headquartered elsewhere.] And there was also a lot of involvement of other celebrities as part of LA, but he is, of course, very notable. And they also had self-improvement classes. And that’s really how this was born. But at the time of its opening, it really was a very prominent cultural center. And it was one of the only of its kind in the United States. Even though the Mafundi Institute ended up disbanding just five years after the building opened, it still has a wide range of community organizations and programs to still serve the needs of the Watts community.

Cindy Olnick 14:50
And Peyton, this building is well suited for these different uses, right?

Peyton Hall 14:54
This is a building that is very adaptable. And it’s demonstrated that in recent years and decades, as a place for education for classrooms, vocationally, learning how to build, learning how to be a chef, sheltering people temporarily, social services through its offices. So it’s still, the Mafundi building is still the Mafundi building. And it has shown that it can serve many purposes, for a, for people in a community.

Cindy Olnick 15:34
And it’s got more than just social significance. It’s got an architectural pedigree as well, right?

Arabella Delgado 15:40
Oh, it definitely does. So for those who haven’t been to the Watts Happening Cultural Center, it’s just a simple two-story stucco building, and it’s done in the Late Modern style, which is where its architectural significance comes, because it is very emblematic of the time period, but of course, it was designed by Art Silvers and Robert Kennard, who were both USC Architecture alumni, big shout out there. And they were also Black architects. And that was really significant because they were serving the needs of a historically Black community. So they actually joined their two firms together prior to designing this building. Yes, they were prominent architects, they were modernists, but they were also civil rights activists. And so that’s why they really were trying to get these bids for the Watts neighborhood and all the redevelopment that was going on post-Rebellion.

You have Kennard’s, you know, life was very emblematic of what it was like growing up in segregation. But, of course, when he was starting his architecture career, he was only one of two Black architects in his classes. And then Silvers had already had this established history at the time of designing the cultural center of being a civil rights activist, which led to multiple arrests. But he was the president for the city’s chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality. They worked to expose housing discrimination, redlining, and just broad discrimination against Black Angelenos. He regularly spoke to his students about architectural work, and stressed the necessity for protests and civil disobedience, which is why it was so fitting for them to design this building because it was born out of protest, out of an uprising.

And so by the Black community demanding social services and investment in their community, and then you get two architects who are not only well trained, but they are also invested in the same fight, and they are working for the same goal as well.

Cindy Olnick 17:41
There’s also this mural on the outside that makes it instantly recognizable. Tell me a little bit about that.

Arabella Delgado 17:48
Yeah, so this mural on the outside is done by Elliot Pinkney and it’s depicting Black artists, and I think it really makes the building stand out. It’s one of those murals that like, as soon as you look at it, you understand, like, what this building is about, who it serves.

Cindy Olnick 18:05
Yep. And there’s no one better qualified to tell us what this building’s about and who it serves than our next guest, a USC alum and a lifelong member of the Watts community.

Rita Cofield 18:16
My name is Rita Cofield, I’m a recent graduate of the heritage conservation program. I’ve been working and involved and in love with the community of Watts since birth, and I’m working with an organization called Friends at Mafundi to save the Mafundi building.

Cindy Olnick 18:31
Rita, can you tell me a little bit about the Mafundi Institute and why the building is named after it.

Rita Cofield 18:38
Mafundi means artisans in Swahili, or creative people. So the Mafundi Institute was formed in 1967 as a result of folks in Watts, artists in Watts, students, kids, the community, needing a creative outlet. So the Mafundi Institute was created by students that were — actually they were UCLA students and they did a UCLA film. And the film was called Johnny Gets Out [correction: Johnny Gigs Out]. And the film created this community of artists, and that community of artists got together and formed the Mafundi Institute. The Watts Rebellion left the community desolate. So youth in the community needed a creative outlet, a way to express themselves, a way to express their anger, their hurt, their disappointment, and the Mafundi Institute came at a very important time for the community to have a creative outlet.

Cindy Olnick 19:50
Arabella, where do you think this building fits into the broader history of Los Angeles?

Arabella Delgado 19:55
So I think it’s completely inseparable from the history of like Black Los Angeles in general, I really don’t think you can separate the two, because it was born out of this movement of like this demand for resources. It was built and designed by Black architects. It’s like this culmination of all the things, like of this Black neighborhood of Watts, of the history there of broader Los Angeles. And I think it’s like this little capsule of that history of both like architecture, social, historical, political significance.

Cindy Olnick 20:32
There’s one part of the building in particular that really conveys this history. Let’s hear from the person who studied it.

Emi Takahara 20:40
Hi, I’m Emi Takahara, and I’m a first-year Master’s in Heritage Conservation student.

Cindy Olnick 20:47
So one of the coolest things about this building, which is saying something, is the incredible collection in the Watts Coffee House portion, so tell us about that.

Emi Takahara 20:57
It is known as the Watts Coffee House and was started by Desiree Edwards. She opened the restaurant in 1997. It’s a Southern menu. The coffee house is this fantastic open space with these big vaulted ceilings and large beams going across the ceiling, or kind of from wall to wall. And inside the space, pretty much from floor to ceiling, there are album covers and paintings and photos and posters and furniture and just so many different interesting things. These album covers, starting kind of from the ’50s Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald and Art Blakey, Billie Holiday. And then there’s posters for musical events with Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis and the Jackson Five.

And there’s also just kind of local things in there, which there was like the Jordan High School football team, there’s a photo from 1940, as well as from 2006. And then there’s some other kind of fun photographs that are copies, but it’s like Obama and Al Sharpton having a meal together, eating, they’re sitting at a table eating together, and you know, there’s Malcolm X, and then there’s also the famous photo of Huey Newton sitting in the throne chair — and then there’s actually the throne chair — not the throne chair but a throne chair — in the dining area with the poster actually propped up in front of it.

But, and most importantly, I think, are these autographs or notes that people who visited, performers of all sorts, musicians, comedians, they have this area that there’s a lot of these handwritten notes just saying how much they love the place. That really is a very significant part of the coffee house, it really lends this tangible aspect of kind of the intangible experiences that have occurred there. And they are written right on the wall, probably in Sharpie or some kind of permanent marker, in all different kinds of colors of pen. There was one from the director F. Gary Gray. Some of you may know him from the movie Friday, and he wrote, “To the Watts Coffee House, thank you for the tender love and care and great food.” That was just one of the many many autographs that you can find on the walls. And there were some other ones that said “salmon croquettes were amazing” and “love those waffles.” You know, just some fun little shout outs to the coffee house.

Cindy Olnick 24:00
My favorite note is from Art Silvers himself, who writes to Desiree and the staff, “Thank you for making my dream a reality. Love and peace.” So Emi, what kinds of recommendations did you make for the collections?

Emi Takahara 24:14
The area is obviously an active restaurant. And the kitchen itself is not in that one main room, that’s the coffee house, but it’s kind of just right off to the side and the door is always open. So obviously, you know, in a restaurant, there’s a lot of air pollution from cooking, a lot of oils. And one of the things that we thought could help is keeping that door closed to the kitchen. And then having an HVAC system just for the coffee house itself. So kind of creating its own environment. And then another big thing, which of course, is light and the damage from UV. And it has one wall that’s all glass windows. But to have some kind of UV film, looking into what kind of UV blocking capability. So I just kind of talk about in the paper that I’m working on, different kinds of films that you could possibly use to help block the UV light, which really will fade and make items deteriorate over time.

Another aspect was thinking about how to preserve the autographs that are there, because some of them actually have started to fade already. So looking at how to actually go about saving something that could be potentially kind of hard to save since it’s actually on the wall of the coffee shop itself. It’s a restaurant, they’re not in the business of being a museum. But it would be great to be able to know what they have there and to try to take care of that collection.

Cindy Olnick 26:04
Well I think Desiree has described the coffee house as a museum restaurant, so I know your suggestions will come in handy. Another part of the project evaluated what many people consider the eyes into the soul of a building: the windows. Melissa, welcome, and can you describe in a nutshell what you found?

Melissa Miller 26:25
I’m Melissa Miller, and I’m a graduate student in the Master of Heritage Conservation program. You can’t really put anything to do with this building into just a nutshell. I think that it has so much significance, every aspect of it. So the windows play, of course, a huge role in the significance of this building. And so if we’re just looking at the physical aspects of the windows, I think of Dolores Hayden, of how the power of place is connected to the elements of social history, and the lives and livelihoods of the people in that community and who used this place. And it tells that story through all those layers that everyone has been talking about.

So it started off being this wonderful place for the community, a revitalization. And then as the years went by, and as the importance and significance maybe was forgotten by generations, different elements started to creep in. For example, on the first floor, the windows had to be blocked and blacked out for security purposes. They started getting a lot of graffiti, and scratches and etchings and things on there. And to protect everything that they had on the first floor, and the people inside, they had to black those out and block them, some with panels, some with paint. Also, I think throughout the years, on the second floor, there were these really cool aspects of design for clerestory windows, and then vertical windows that went from floor to ceiling to really let in the light. And so some of that had to be blocked off so that they could accommodate more people with desks and computers and equipment and so forth.

This was really kind of a beacon to the rest of the community that all of these windows, and the importance of this community center, really are showing you the transparency of the inside and outside, that the people who use this are just like everyone else. And you can see us and we can see you. You’ve got the courtyard, and that’s a full wall of glass windows and glass sliders. And you can see into the other hallway across the way, which is really more of the administrative part.

But there are windows everywhere. And you could tell that it was very, very important for the architects to let light in. So my recommendations, based on the assessment that we were able to make, was really that we’d need to try to bring as much of the original architecture for these windows, and aesthetics, everything back to where we can. When you see a building that has many windows, it to me says, Okay, this building is supported with a structure that is so strong that it allows for more and more windows. And I thought, that’s kind of what this is to the community. This building is the support system, the structure to allow more people in to use it and to support it. So I felt, I felt kind of that connection between the windows and the community.

Cindy Olnick 29:40
That is a great analogy. Thanks, Melissa. Rita, tell me what the building means to the community.

Rita Cofield 29:48
The Mafundi building is one of the last symbols of hope, and arts, and culture that came out of the 1965 Watts Rebellion. We have the Watts Towers Art Center that also sprung out of the 1965 Rebellion. And we also have WLCAC, the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, that also came from that time. So the Mafundi building is one of the last remaining symbols of art and culture that came out of the Watts community.

Cindy Olnick 30:33
And it’s not a relic, it’s not just sitting there. It still fills big community needs.

Rita Cofield 30:38
So since 1970, it’s been serving the community, from community programs, the Mafundi Institute was housed in there. When the Mafundi Institute disbanded in 1975, it was the Watts Credit Union that was out of there. There was also a housing organization that used the building, Los Angeles Education Corps used the building. They are there now, they’ll be moving out in August. Now there’s what’s called Homeless Free America is using the building. So, many different community organizations have used the building since the Mafundi Institute left in 1975. And of course, the Watts Coffee House has been in the building since 1997.

Cindy Olnick 31:29
And is it true that that coffee house is the only full-service restaurant in Watts?

Rita Cofield 31:35
That is true. That is true. We have a lot of eateries in Watts. But the Watts Coffee House is the only sit-down.

Cindy Olnick 31:45
Rita, you have spent an awful lot of time in this building over the years. So tell me what it’s like, tell me what it feels like to go in there.

Rita Cofield 31:55
It feels like community. I mean, I walk in, everybody — it’s weird to say, I mean, everybody knows my name. I feel like I am back in that building when it was in its heyday. The feeling of a community togetherness, of a connectedness, and Desiree and the coffee house, that’s what they do. They connect people. Desiree has a TV set up in the back there, and Wattstax is playing in the background.

Cindy Olnick 32:31
Yes. Wattstax, the 1972 festival at the LA Memorial Coliseum.

Rita Cofield 32:36
It was put on to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the ‘65 Rebellion.

[Staples Singers at Wattstax] 32:41

Rita Cofield 33:12
People have celebrations there. So it just feels like, feels like family. And now there are lots of events that are happening on the site.

Cindy Olnick 33:25
Terrific. And so many of these needs still exist. So wouldn’t you know, the fate of the Mafundi building is somewhat uncertain, there is a project in the works that would affect it. And Rita is one of the people leading the charge in the community to recognize, protect, and revitalize it. So Rita, tell us a little bit about what you’re doing to try and save this treasure.

Rita Cofield 33:49
There’s a gentleman by the name of Father Amde Hamilton of the Watts Prophets, who got word of a development plan demolishing the building. And he was very concerned, and he got other people in the community, and someone found out that I was a preservationist, or, you know, I had that skill and knowledge, even though I was still in school. So I came in because Father Amde formed this sort of community coalition, the end of 2019. And the City presented the community with a redevelopment plan that did not protect its significance, and that would allow demolition if the project or the developer, I guess, had a better plan — quote, unquote, “better plan.”

Cindy Olnick 34:44
It’s owned by the City, right?

Rita Cofield 34:46
Yes, the building is owned by the City. And the request for proposal is a request for leasing the land — not selling it, but they would lease it to the developer. And, of course, housing, affordable housing is a hot ticket at this point.

Cindy Olnick 35:04
Sure. I mean, it’s no joke, but you know, it’s not either/or, either, right?

Rita Cofield 35:09
It’s possible that it could accommodate both, there’s a parking lot that’s not, I think the parking lot serves 50-something cars, so it’s not large. And I think there’s talk of building affordable housing in the lot. Me personally, I don’t want to see any housing, anywhere near that site. If you build housing on the parking lot, you block the entrance, you block the Mafundi mural. And it just changes, it changes the feeling of the site. And I think the site is just as sacred as the building. It is not disconnected, and it was done on purpose. It’s on the corner of 103rd and Wilmington. It’s a very prominent site. To build housing there would be a shame, but compromise, we’re willing to compromise. But again, it’s connected — the site is connected to the integrity and the view of that mural.

Cindy Olnick 36:10
Right. And there may be some other parts of Watts that could be developed?

Rita Cofield 36:15
Yes, there are City-owned properties, City-owned land, that I can pull up a map and show you. There’s spaces to build, and not build in this significant part of our community.

Cindy Olnick 36:29
Alright. You’ve nominated it for local landmark designation, which is great. So it’s sort of winding its way through the process at this point.

Rita Cofield 36:38
Yes. That’s one of our goals. And the organization is called Friends at Mafundi. And we have specific goals, and one is to save it from demolition and then to nominate it as a Historic-Cultural Monument, locally first. So that has gone, the Commission has voted to consider the nomination. And they’ll be coming out, I believe May 20, for their site visit, and then their final report.

Councilman Buscaino of Council District 15, when we found out about the RFP and we talked to him, he was unsure, because the question that Friends at Mafundi had was, Will you support the nomination? And his answer was, I don’t know. So now, he has come out in support of the nomination. His planning deputy came on himself for the nomination and spoke about the City supporting the nomination with a “but,” with a but, and the but was, we are still going to do housing. There’s a motion for this, called a P3 Public Private Partnership. And so Friends at Mafundi, but again, it has to do with housing, but even with that the community would like to be in control of what happens to the site, not you know, a developer or an outsider. If we have to do housing, you know, we’d like for the community to be leading that effort.

Cindy Olnick 38:17
Absolutely. And for it to house the community.

Rita Cofield 38:20
And to house the community. Exactly.

Cindy Olnick 38:23
So how can our dear listeners help to protect this building and make sure that it continues to serve the community and that the community decides what to do with it?

Rita Cofield 38:35
Well, what Peyton’s class is doing to help is tremendous. And, of course, I took the class, so I know the value of the end product. And the fact that this is happening to a building that I care about, that attention is being paid by students who are becoming experts and who, you know, are taking the time to look at this building, and the materials of this building, and how to maintain and conserve the materials, is like a huge part. Because now we have something to show not only our community, that Hey, look, you know, the City says it’s not worth saving, we say differently, and we have proof. But we could also present it to the City.

Cindy Olnick 39:27
So this class is helping, that’s great. And you’re getting some exposure in the press and through the podcast.

Rita Cofield 39:34
That’s one of the things, is bringing attention to the significance of this building and the significance of the two architects, Kennard and Silvers. They are not only being recognized as important architects, but they were civic leaders, community leaders. They did this building at a time when Blacks needed heroes. They were two heroes that came along and built this building for artists. There’s a saying that says the building was built by us, for us. And so letting folks know, inside and outside of our community, that this building is significant in so many ways, for so many reasons.

Cindy Olnick 40:32
So people hearing this, you know, right after it comes out, like mid-May, we can help support the nomination, right, the Historic-Cultural Monument nomination?

Rita Cofield 40:44
Yes, you can send letters, write letters to the Cultural Heritage Commission. You can tie up, tie up the Zoom lines. You can call in and say how much you know, this building means to the community, but also your thoughts of what it means to not only our community, but as a symbol of equity in communities of color. To have this building not, not just not demolished, but have the building and the site given back to the community, for community use, is huge. And it’s something that — it’s hard when you want to preserve a building but not get into the politics, but this building, you can’t not. You have to get into the weeds of, of the politics, because, you know, it’s significant for its cultural, you know, community, art. But it’s also, we’re going through a political struggle in Watts about what is deserving of not only significance, but what the community needs, what the community wants, and who gets the say in what’s important, and what happens to those things that are important in our community.

Cindy Olnick 42:13
This is a moment. An important moment for all of us to put our money where our mouth is in terms of equity and social justice. To stand behind this amazing community that is so much more than the Rebellion, so much more than the Watts Towers, so much more.

Rita Cofield 42:30
When we talk about how historic materials tell a story of the people that inhabit it and use it, it bothers me when journalists and city officials say and treat Watts like there’s no beautiful buildings there. I almost want to cry. I mean, I am crying, because it feels like they’re saying that there are no beautiful or significant people in Watts. And then not only I don’t want to just, you know, tell outsiders or people who don’t know Watts, that Watts is important, and has a rich legacy. But we need to remind, I need to remind my own community of that as well.

Cindy Olnick 43:10
Thank you, Rita, for sharing that. And thank you and Friends at Mafundi for your heroic efforts. We at Save As are behind you a million percent, and we’ll do all we can to help.

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Trudi Sandmeier 43:26
Wow. Clearly, conservation is about passion and about the stories people have and the ways that people connect to place and to history and to community, and all of these things. And it’s just so evident in the story of this place, and these people, and the ongoing saga.

Cindy Olnick 43:50
And we just learned that the City has backed off developing on the site for now. So the landmark nomination is still moving forward. And the community, of course, is working on ways to care for this very important building, and use it in a way that best honors its legacy of arts and culture. So the beat goes on, it’s not over. You, dear listener, have a role to play in supporting this effort. So you can visit friendsatmafundi.org, and join their email list for updates and ways that you can help, and we’ll have those links on the show notes at saveas.place.

Trudi Sandmeier 44:26
You can also find a link to Jerome Robinson’s thesis about Robert Kennard, as well as photos of the Mafundi building on our show notes for this episode.