Everyday Urbanism in L.A.’s Koreatown Cindy Olnick 0:00Today on Save As: Junyoung Myung 0:01Even though Korean immigrants and Korean Americans have been Southern California for more than 100 years, and Koreatown has great cultural significance in Los Angeles, it was…
Tag: heritage conservation
Everyday Urbanism in L.A.’s Koreatown
In this “Where Are They Now?” episode, we catch up with alum Junyoung Myung (MHC ’15), who followed yet another of many career paths in heritage conservation: research and teaching. His exciting work blends architecture, design, heritage conservation, and technology—from teaching undergrad architects about adaptive reuse, to training AI to identify architectural styles, and much more. He’s also finishing his doctoral dissertation, which explores how generations of Korean immigrants and Korean Americans created a unique ethnic urban landscape in Los Angeles. It builds on his master’s thesis, Values-Based Approach to Heritage Conservation: Identifying Cultural Heritage in Los Angeles Koreatown.
Jun talks with co-host Trudi Sandmeier about working with residents to identify overlooked places of memory and meaning, using digital technology to advance the field, and inspiring the next generation of architects to embrace heritage conservation.
Death Valley Ghost Town: Conservation of the Ryan Mining District
Before Death Valley became a desert tourism mecca, it was a mining hot spot. The homelands of the Timbisha Shoshone tribe were opened to industry during the California Gold Rush. In this “Where Are They Now?” episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with alumna Mary Ringhoff about her thesis on the early-twentieth-century mining town of Ryan, an unusually well-preserved site just outside the boundaries of Death Valley National Park. The company town housed workers at the Pacific Coast Borax Company, which produced the famous “20-Mule Team” cleaning agent used in millions of households.
Mary, an archaeologist by training, describes the lives of miners in a harsh desert environment, the town’s conversion into a hotel for tourists, and how it became a ghost town. She also shares the surprising project she’s been investigating in her work as an architectural historian.
Death Valley Ghost Town: Conservation of the Ryan Mining District Cindy Olnick 0:00Today on Save As: Mary Ringhoff 0:01It really is a tangible way to connect you with the past, and it’s so rare to have something that’s that hasn’t…
Preserving Black Heritage in the U.S. South
One of the signs memorializing the 1955 murder of Emmett Till weighs nearly 500 pounds and is designed to absorb a rifle round. It’s the fourth version of the sign, the others having been vandalized and riddled with bullet holes.
How can communities recognize and preserve vulnerable Black heritage sites without placing them more at risk? New alumna Kira Williams shares her views with co-host Cindy Olnick on a visit to L.A.’s St. Elmo Village, a historic site of art and healing. They explore the site and discuss Kira’s thesis, Being a Part of the Narrative: How to Preserve Black Heritage in the U.S. South While Mitigating Violence and Facilitating Change?
Trudi Sandmeier 00:00Today on Save As: Kira Williams 00:01We shouldn’t have to make any piece of Black history weigh a few tons and be covered with bulletproof glass as a means to protect it. There should be actual conservation protections put in…
A Tale of Two Rivers: Los Angeles and San Antonio Trudi Sandmeier 00:00Today on Save As: Leslie Dinkin 00:01What I really liked about the L.A. River, I guess, is that it doesn’t pretend to be anything else, you know. It…
A Tale of Two Rivers: Los Angeles and San Antonio
Why do urban rivers look like they do? What makes one river key to a city’s identity and another one largely unknowable? We wrap up Season Four with a trip to the banks of the Los Angeles River, where Cindy Olnick chats with new dual-degree alum Leslie Dinkin about her award-winning master’s thesis, Heritage in Practice: A Study of Two Urban Rivers.
Leslie wanted to know what happened to set the Los Angeles and San Antonio Rivers on such different courses in the development of their respective cities. In addition to comparing their histories, she walked nearly sixty miles along both rivers. In her thesis, she documents the experience through her written reflections and hundreds of photos by Rio (yes, Rio) Asch Phoenix. In the episode, she shares stories, insights, and part of her conversation with Char Miller, Director of Environmental Analysis and W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis and History at Pomona College.