City Historic Landmark Inventory

With the recent approval of yet another Historic-Cultural Monument in the City of LA with the Feliz sign and showroom, it's a good time to remember that there are 873 designated monuments by the City as of May of this year. The first ten being designated in 1962 via a preservation ordinance that predates New York City's. And those first ten designations (in order):

10. The Eagle Rock
9. Shadow Ranch House in Canoga Park
8. Foy House on Carroll Avenue
7. Romulo Pico Adobe (Rancho Romulo) in Mission Hills
6. Bradbury Building on Broadway
5. The Salt Box (Victorian Structure relocated from Bunker Hill and later destroyed by Fire in 1969)
4. Angel's Flight
3. Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles (Plaza Church)
2. Bolton Hall in Tujunga
1. Leonis Adobe at the LA City/Calabasas border

The complete City listing can be found here; and a great way to learn about them is to visit this quite nerdy site (which is fairly awesome!): http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/, where they are going in order through each monument with brief history, photos, and present-day assessments. With about 40 done so far, they are 5% complete, but new structures are being approved every month, so who knows if the site will ever reach it's goal... at least in the near future. We sure hope so!

Now, there may need to be some change to the way Historical Monuments are protected while in the process of application for designation. Remember: just a few weeks ago, while the initial review was being scheduled for the last original house of the town of Van Nuys, the developer demolished it because a structure is not protected (even temporarily) until after the first hearing. So, once an application is submitted, an owner can demolish it before the review hearing without consequence. Something here needs to change, even it requires the City to gaurantee a hearing within 30 days of an application being filed.

Photo ofthe first Cultural Historic Monument from BigOrangeLandmarks