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Author: sandmeie

March 17, 2022
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Season 2, Episode 11

Posted in Episodes, and Season 2

Robert Kennard, Architect for Humanity

Robert A. Kennard, FAIA (1920 – 1995) led an extraordinary life as an architect, mentor, and humanitarian. The son of a Pullman car porter, Kennard defied steep odds to build a successful career, design more than 700 structures, and create one of the longest-running African American-owned architecture firms in the western U.S. He “believed that people were more important than the spaces they occupied,” wrote USC alum Jerome Robinson in his master’s thesis, An Odyssey in B-Flat: Rediscovering the Life and Times of Master Architect Robert A. Kennard.

Jerome passed away before we could interview him for this podcast, yet he left a trove of stellar research and archival audio. We bring you some of it in this episode. We also hear personal stories of Kennard from his daughter Gail, who still runs the firm he formed in 1957. This episode is longer than usual (around 40 minutes), but stick with it–you’ll find it worth your while, or your money back!

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March 3, 2022
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Season 2, Episode 10

Posted in Episodes, and Season 2

Beit Olam: The Forever Homes of East L.A.’s Jewish Cemeteries

Cemeteries mean many things to many people. In this episode, we talk with alum Rachel Trombetta about her thesis, Beit Olam: A Home Everlasting–The Jewish Cemeteries of East Los Angeles. Rachel shares the history of Jewish congregations in Los Angeles, how they moved away from the central city over the years, and what that means to the burial grounds established as their “forever homes.” She discusses distinct features of Jewish cemeteries and the specific challenges of conserving cemeteries in general. And she shares her unusual path to heritage conservation from the world of TV and film locations.

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February 18, 2022
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Season 2, Episode 9

Posted in Episodes, and Season 2

Beyond the Fog: San Francisco’s Clement Street

San Francisco is a preservation-minded city, but not all parts of the city are getting the same amount of preservation love. Alum Andrea Dumovich Heywood talks with us about her research into Clement Street, a diverse neighborhood in the city’s Inner Richmond area, that is considered the city’s second Chinatown. You’ll hear about what makes this neighborhood vibrant, the few places that have been landmarked, and the case for designating some of the area’s intangible heritage.

And please! Take a few minutes to complete our quick survey, and enter to win a fab Save As mug! Thank you!

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February 3, 2022
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Season 2, Episode 8

Posted in Episodes, and Season 2

Conservation “On the Natch” at the Alcoholism Center for Women

At the Alcoholism Center for Women (ACW), women regain their lives and claim their space in the world. They also take care of two century-old homes in one of L.A.’s oldest neighborhoods. Brenda Weathers founded ACW in 1974 to give women—primarily lesbians, mainly women of color—a place to heal. Miracles have taken place there for nearly half a century. Recent grad Lindsay Mulcahy has spent the past few years delving into ACW’s rich history, which she shared with us last year (Sisterhood Is Beautiful, Season 1, Episode 7). In this new episode, she returns to talk about a public history project centering the women of ACW, and how recovery and conservation are more alike than we might think.

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January 20, 2022
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Season 2, Episode 7

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Quantity and Quality: Modernism and More

In this grab bag of SoCal history, we talk with alum Sian Winship, an architectural historian with her fingers in many, many pies. She explored the world of modernist tract homes in her master’s thesis, Quantity and Quality: Architects Working for Developers in Southern California, 1960-1973. Quantity and quality also characterize this wide-ranging conversation about mid-century modernism, women’s heritage, social justice, the Civil War, and Palm Springs’ dirty secret. Sian also shares her path from advertising to conservation and how she used gravel as a career move.

 

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December 16, 2021
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Season 2, Episode 6

Posted in Episodes, and Season 2

Community-Led Advocacy: Saving Places and Building Power

When M. Rosalind Sagara entered the world of heritage conservation, she brought along a deep passion for, and background in, community organizing. At USC, she researched heritage advocacy through the lens of two contentious campaigns — both led by local stakeholders working not just to save places, but to build power and community. Hear what Rosalind learned about community-led conservation then, and how she’s building community and cultivating new leaders now with the Los Angeles Conservancy, Save Our Chinatown Committee, and Asian & Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation.

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December 2, 2021
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Season 2, Episode 5

Posted in Episodes, and Season 2

Culture, Community, and the Holiday Bowl

In 2003, the majority of the beloved Holiday Bowl in L.A.’s Crenshaw district was demolished. Although the bowling alley–a big box profoundly important to the community–was lost, the coffee shop–a Googie gem designed by Armet and Davis–remains standing and is now a Starbucks. Today’s guest Katie Horak analyzed the efforts to save the Holiday Bowl in her 2006 thesis. Listen as Katie reflects on her research, how times have changed in terms of valuing cultural significance, and why communities should tell their own stories. Now a leader in our field, she’s come back to USC as a teacher, inspiring the next generation of heritage conservationists.

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November 18, 2021
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Season 2, Episode 4

Posted in Episodes, and Season 2

Oakwood and the “Racing of Space” in Venice

At the turn of the last century, Black entrepreneur Arthur L. Reese convinced developer Abbot Kinney to hire Black workers for Kinney’s seaside resort and amusement park, Venice of America. Reese had a hard time recruiting Blacks to the area because, even though Venice was one of the few neighborhoods without racially restrictive covenants, no one would rent or sell to them. Thus was born the Black ethnic enclave of Oakwood, formed through de facto racial separation, or the “racing of space.” In this episode, alum Rita Cofield delves into Oakwood’s rich history, from the effects (positive and negative) of spatial segregation to the tangible and intangible evidence that remains–yet now faces erasure through rampant gentrification.

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University of Southern California