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Tag: heritage conservation

November 21, 2024
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Season 5, Episode 4

Posted in Episodes, and Season 5

How Lesbian Bars Built Community in San Francisco’s North Beach

As a young architectural historian in San Francisco, Shayne Watson would take lunchtime walks near her office, pondering how and where the city’s lesbian history took shape. She discovered that one of the earliest lesbian bars once stood right up the street in North Beach, a neighborhood that served as the birthplace of the city’s lesbian community—though you’d never know it just by looking. After earning her USC master’s degree in 2009, Shayne decided to do something about underrecognized LGBTQ history in San Francisco. She never looked back and is now a national leader in LGBTQ preservation.

Producer Willa Seidenberg took a walk with Shayne in North Beach to see some sites from her thesis, Preserving the Tangible Remains of San Francisco’s Lesbian Community in North Beach, 1933 to 1960. They discuss the neighborhood’s roots in tourism, its transformation after Prohibition, and its uncertain fate in the face of the affordable housing crisis.

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October 10, 2024
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Season 5, Episode 2

Posted in Episodes, and Season 5

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.  

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September 12, 2024
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Season 5, Episode 1

Posted in Episodes, and Season 5

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?

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May 30, 2024
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Season 4, Episode 11

Posted in Episodes, and Season 4

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. 

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May 9, 2024
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Season 4, Episode 10

Posted in Episodes, and Season 4

Beyond the Stage: Uncovering Drag Culture in Los Angeles

Drag performances have long been a draw for audiences in L.A., though often held “underground” because of threats of persecution. In addition to its entertainment history, drag has had a role in affirming and protecting gender identity. Architect and recent graduate Jesús (Chuy) Barba Bonilla researched this history for his master’s thesis, Drag Culture of Los Angeles: Intangible Heritage through Ephemeral Places. In this episode, Willa Seidenberg chats with Chuy about how he chose this topic and why it matters within and beyond the LGBTQ+ community. He delves into the challenges of researching drag’s hidden and erased heritage and the vital need to uncover, document, and share these stories.

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University of Southern California