· Nathan Marsak · 2 min read
The Cranky Preservationist: 3 Beauties Bite the Dust (episode 20)
Episode 20 finds Nathan back in Pico-Union, a disenfranchised community of immigrants and renters that is experiencing unprecedented development-fueled displacement & demolition. 2700 blck W Francis
Architectural historian Nathan Marsak loves Los Angeles, and hates to see important buildings neglected and abused, whether by slumlord owners or the savage public. Follow him on his urban adventures as he sees something that looks like crap, opens his yap and spontaneously lets you know exactly why this place matters.
Episode Twenty finds Nathan back in Pico-Union, a disenfranchised community of immigrants and renters that is experiencing unprecedented development-fueled displacement and demolition. On the 2700 block of West Francis Avenue, three beguiling early 20th century homes converted to multi-family housing stand boarded up and derelict, waiting for the pneumatic claw to rip them to shreds.
Your tax money in the form of HHH funds will be used to build something quick and cheap, but very profitable for the consultants, developer and politicians attached to the project.
And yeah, presumably some poor elderly people will get the chance to live in that quick, cheap structure. But West Francis Avenue and Los Angeles will be forever diminished by the loss of these beautiful homes that have grown up with the city. In a city blighted with tens of thousands of vacant lots, strip malls and oil change pits, it is a crime to turn landmarks into landfill, and once beautiful blocks into eyesores. If you’re cranky, too, let’s demand better from City Hall and the County Supervisors.
Where will the Cranky Preservationist turn up next? Stay tuned!
