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Tag: heritage conservation

Season 3, Episode 5

Posted in Episodes, and Season 3

[Encore] Fictional History: Recognizing TV and Film Locations

In case you missed it, we’re re-releasing an episode from last season, chosen by our Save As intern, Emily Kwok. It’s an Emily’s Pick!  

Should the Brady Bunch House be in the National Register of Historic Places? Why not? asks alum Jonathan Kaplan. In his master’s thesis, the TV writer-turned-heritage conservationist makes a case for designating sites specifically for their use in movies and TV shows. Along with literary precedent dating back to Chaucer, Jonathan cites the deep meaning and shared cultural experiences these places create. If a place inspires meaning, does it matter where that meaning comes from? Does reality matter in these fact-fluid times? Join us for a fascinating conversation that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Season 3, Episode 4

Posted in Episodes, and Season 3

Is Deconstruction a Dirty Word?

How can taking a building apart possibly relate to heritage conservation? Join us in the Upside Down for a chat with architect and alum Guadalupe Flores about his thesis, Deconstruction: A Tool for Sustainable Conservation. When a building can’t be saved, reusing the materials makes perfect sense. The concept of deconstruction certainly isn’t new. But how do we make the case for it in a disposable society—and make sure it’s used only as a last resort?

Season 3, Episode 3

Posted in Episodes, and Season 3

The Postwar L.A. of Gin Wong

Chinese American architect Gin D. Wong, FAIA (1922-2017) defined what it means to achieve the American dream. He immigrated from China as a boy and went on to have a 60-year career as a successful architect in Los Angeles. He played a key role in the design of post-World War II L.A., with projects including LAX, CBS Television City, and the iconic Union 76 gas station in Beverly Hills. In this episode, new alum Nirali Sheth discusses her thesis, A Silent Legacy: The Influence of Gin D. Wong’s Work on the Los Angeles Built Environment. She talks with co-host Cindy Olnick about Wong’s life and work, how credit can elude architects in big corporate firms, and how she researched her subject without access to his archive.

Season 3, Episode 2

Posted in Episodes, and Season 3

Feng Shui as Cultural Heritage

This episode delves into global heritage conservation, as producer Willa Seidenberg talks with recent grad Haowen Yu about his thesis, Examining Feng Shui as Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage. Many Americans consider Feng Shui primarily an approach to arranging space. Yet it’s a far more complex system of knowledge, practice, and tradition that has spanned more than a millennium. Feng Shui underlies virtually the entire built environment of China, but it hasn’t (yet) been designated as a form of cultural heritage. Haowen discusses why he’s not so sure it should be, and how Feng Shui has been viewed in China and around the world.

Season 3, Episode 1

Posted in Episodes, and Season 3

Surf, Sand, and Self-Determination: Jim Crow-Era Leisure for Black Angelenos

We said “so long” to summer with a trip to the Santa Monica beach with historian Alison Rose Jefferson, whose work at USC launched a deep dive into African American recreation areas in the Golden State. Her master’s thesis on Lake Elsinore led to her widely acclaimed book, Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites in the Jim Crow Era.

Alison shares some of the struggles, successes, and legacies of Black leisure spaces in early twentieth-century SoCal. We also hear from an oral history with the late Verna (Deckard Lewis) Williams, who experienced fun in the sun—and racism from white beachgoers—firsthand.