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© 2024 Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation
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Why do we save historic places? For whom? How can heritage conservation advance equity, justice, and climate adaptation? This podcast explores these and other issues with students at the University of Southern California, for a glimpse of the future of the field.
57 Episodes
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One of the many great things about Los Angeles is its unrivaled legacy of modern residential architecture. Students in Peyton Hall's Materials Conservation class did their case study on the John J. Buck House (1934-35) by R. M. Schindler, one of the legendary architects who defined Southern California modernism. Co-host Cindy Olnick tagged along on a site visit and talked with Peyton, students Sam Malnati and Julie Dinkin, and owner Jocelyn Gibbs. The house is in great shape but has changed o...
Is Leimert Park the most significant neighborhood in Los Angeles? Katie Horak thinks it might be. “I don't think there's any neighborhood in the city that tells so many different important stories about our history as a city, and that really has the integrity to still tell that story,” she says in this episode of Save As. A USC alum, principal at Architectural Resources Group, and adjunct professor, Katie took her students out of the classroom and into the neighborhood to document Leimert Par...
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 communit...
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.”...
How do you preserve the heritage of a place you have to leave? Find out from Ani Mnatsakanyan, who just finished her master’s thesis on the Central Valley town of Yettem. Armenian for “Garden of Eden,” Yettem is a tiny town with a huge impact. Learn how it came to be, how it helped Armenians rebuild their lives after fleeing genocide in their homeland, and how heritage can both reflect and transcend the physical environment.Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn
As L.A.’s Watts neighborhood reeled from the 1965 Rebellion against systemic injustice, Black architects and civil rights activists Art Silvers and Robert Kennard designed a place of healing and hope. The Watts Happening Cultural Center opened in 1970 as the home of the Mafundi Institute (“mafundi” is Swahili for artisans or craftspeople), which provided a vital creative outlet for self-expression and Black empowerment. Now widely known as the Mafundi building, this Late Modern gem is a rare ...
Bunker Hill looms large in the collective memory of Los Angeles. Once a tony enclave of Victorian homes, the downtown neighborhood became a vibrant and diverse community before being razed in the urban renewal/removal of the 1950s. Much has been made of the architectural loss. But who were, and what came of, the thousands and thousands of people displaced? A very cool USC project called Bunker Hill Refrain seeks to find out. High tech meets low tech in a vast effort to capture, map, and analy...
Alumna Sara Delgadillo grew up in the working class ethnic enclave of Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley. The heart of the community, the Van Nuys Boulevard commercial corridor, is home to several legacy businesses that serve as centers of community and cultural continuity. In this episode, journey with us to this corner of Los Angeles and see it through the eyes of a local. Hear about how growing up in Pacoima has influenced Sara's path in life, in her studies, and in heritage conservation.C...
The allure of abundant work and fertile soil drew many to California, and in particular, the rich rural areas of the state. Punjabi workers came in small numbers to Yuba City in the early 1900s, but after Indian independence in 1947 when Punjab was split in two, that trickle became a steady stream. Now this rural area known for its peach orchards is the heart of a vibrant South Asian Punjabi community, rich with traditions and culture.In this episode, hear from alumna Deepeaka Dhaliwal ...
In mid-century Los Angeles, public housing was designed to house the many workers flooding to the city seeking jobs in the booming industrial economy. Taking advantage of the climate, the various developments used the popular garden apartment model and employed some of the area’s most prominent architects. A lack of maintenance and serial disinvestment led to decline, and now these civic resources are deteriorated and under threat. With a strong background in affordable housing development, a...
The decade-long civil war in Syria has decimated the country’s infrastructure, killed more than 400,000 Syrians, and created the world’s largest displaced population of around 13 million. Heritage sites play a big role in war as targets of destruction, and they're typically an early focus of rebuilding efforts. With an optimistic take on a devastating situation, alumna Dalia Mokayed talks about the effects of war on heritage and identity, and how heritage conservation can help cities and comm...
What comes to mind when you think of Compton? If it’s gangs and rap, think again. This small city is one of the oldest in L.A. County, with a history of agriculture, self-reliance, and resilience. It has a farm, a space-age civic center, the tennis court where Venus and Serena learned to play, and more (including, yes, cowboys). Compton’s history mirrors that of many cities across the U.S.; it just gained more notoriety thanks to groups like NWA. In this episode, get the real scoop on Compton...
How did a 1960s master-planned suburb use its century-old rancho heritage to form a new vernacular? The story of Mission Viejo spans so many issues--the founding families of modern Southern California, the transformation of our built environment, historical romanticism and cultural appropriation, the overlooked heritage of Orange County, and the need to preserve it. Recent alum Krista Nicholds shares with producer Willa Seidenberg tales from her thesis, The Enduring Romance of the Rancho: Mis...
In 1974, Brenda Weathers came across a century-old home in Pico-Union, an early Los Angeles neighborhood that had seen better days. She decided to use the rundown residence to help people like her: lesbians with alcoholism. Ever since, the Alcoholism Center for Women has served as a treatment center for women in recovery--most of them lesbian; many of them women of color, living in poverty and/or formerly unhoused. This sisterhood has faced more than the obvious challenges along the way, incl...
Pandemics, climate change, natural disasters, inequity, the perils of urbanization: cities worldwide are working to build resilience against these and other existential threats. Resilience planning may include protecting historic places, but it typically overlooks the role of heritage conservation in helping communities prepare for, and recover from, the hazards they face. How does telling a community’s full story make it more resilient? Who should be at the table to make sure resilience plan...
How can heritage conservation help end homelessness? USC grad students in heritage conservation, architecture, and urban planning sought to find out. Using the city of Pasadena as their laboratory, the students and their instructor worked closely with Union Station Homeless Services and Pasadena Heritage. These partners came away with creative strategies and design concepts they can put to use right now, and that could serve as a model for other cities. The students came away with a deeper un...
Los Angeles has a rich LGBTQ heritage that's been largely hidden. Recent graduate Rafael Fontes talks with producer Willa Seidenberg about why sites of LGBTQ significance are relatively hard to find, research, and designate. He discusses three case studies from his master's thesis, Gaining a Foothold: Conserving Los Angeles's Queer Eden(dale): the Harry Hay Residence, The Black Cat, and the Tom of Finland House. Each site reflects a different aspect of the city's LGBTQ history, as well as the...
Have you ever considered sound a character-defining feature? Musician and recent USC grad Kasey Viso Conley certainly has. She knows why Nat King Cole, Janis Joplin, Van Halen, and countless other recording artists insisted on using specific studios to get a certain sound. It’s the physical environment of the studio, from acoustic tiles to echo chambers. Yet the transformation of recording technology has studios closing left and right. Why save these places when you can simulate their sounds ...
In this year of racial reckoning, our first Save As interview explores sites of violence against people of color."Lurking beneath empty lots, nondescript intersections, and even this city’s most stately landmarks are stories of strife and oppression, largely invisible," wrote recent graduate Jackson Loop in his master's thesis about preserving sites of racial conflict in Los Angeles.Jackson talks with producer Willa Seidenberg about the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots, the 1969 police raid on the Black ...
Racial violence. Urban resilience. Acoustic heritage. Heritage conservation students at the University of Southern California are tackling some of the most important and innovative issues in the field, and we’re bringing their groundbreaking work to you. In this inaugural episode of Save As, the dynamic duo of Trudi Sandmeier and Cindy Olnick discuss how the podcast came about and what you can look forward to over the coming months. You’ll get a glimpse of a glimpse of the future of heritage ...
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