8001-8003 Santa Monica Boulevard – before the alterations
Regarding Item 8.A. on the Historic Preservation Commission’s (HPC) agenda for January 27, 2020, the West Hollywood Preservation Alliance (WHPA) is quite dismayed with the recommendation that the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) REMOVE the building located at 8001-8003 Santa Monica Boulevard from the 2016 Commercial Historic Resource Survey’s list of potential cultural resources. There are already so few of these resources left in the city, and those that remain need particular care and attention.
City staff, the HPC, and the preservation community worked diligently to come up with a list of 68 potential resources – out of a total of 763 commercial properties surveyed by the outside consulting firm. That effort, however, appears to have been undermined by an “Asleep at the Switch/Who’s Minding the Store?” mentality that needs close examination before further travesties are allowed to occur like what’s beset 8001-8003 Santa Monica Boulevard.
That building has proudly served the community since 1922 when it was built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style along the area’s growing commercial corridor. Almost a century later, a series of less than transparent events occurred between 2017 and now that has brought the community to this situation. It’s a distressing situation that truly needs some full-throated public attention and discussion so that it does not occur again.
Read more about this topic:
https://beverlypress.com/2020/02/preservation-commission-contemplates-its-process/
