LBH President's Message
Stan Poe
Spring 2008 The history of a city is essential to its identity as a viable and unique community. We often don’t realize how fortunate we are in Long Beach to have such a widespread stock of both residential and commercial historic structures. It is easy to concentrate on the desecration of downtown Long Beach and lament the loss of so much of the historic fabric, but it is just as easy to overlook the resources which still exist in the rest of our city.
I recently had the opportunity to lead a historic tour of the city at the request of a design jury serving a furniture competition at CSULB. The members were from various areas of the country, New York to Texas. We began at Rancho Los Alamitos, toured most of the 17 historic districts, drove to the Rancho Los Cerritos and surrounding area, and ended up on Signal Hill to survey our fascinating cityscape. They were highly impressed. They had previously thought Long Beach was a non-descript suburb of Los Angeles. Education is key to preservation.
Historic districts were formed because of the desires of the residents and were created to preserve and stabilize the various neighborhoods. The resultant efforts were due to perseverance of the Office of Historic Preservation and the Cultural Heritage Commission. The CHC is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year. It was created to prevent the haphazard destruction of the built environment, and it has done its’ job well. The continued operation of the CHC is of the utmost importance to address projects which affect historic properties throughout the city. I have served on the CHC since 1993, first as a regular commissioner and then as ex-officio commissioner, due to my background in architectural history. Our normal agenda has been four to twelve items for our consideration. Since the new fee schedule was established last fall, the agenda items have dwindled to two in December and one in January. In February the meeting of the CHC was cancelled due to no agenda items. This was the first time since 1993 that the meeting was cancelled!
I am extremely concerned that the new fee schedule is at least partially responsible for the lack of items brought to the CHC. I’m not sure that it represents what is actually occurring in the historic districts. We need to contact our council members and the mayor to revisit the new exorbitant increases in building and planning fees so that voluntary compliance continues. Fees for services should be reasonable for the services provided and not be punitive consequences for ownership, restoration, and maintenance of historic properties. —Stan Poe
Winter 2008 My pronouncement for the year is that preservation is alive and kicking in Long Beach. I was recently involved in two situations that gave evidence of that observation. The first was in the fall when I was asked to participate in the “University by the Sea” event which was held in downtown Long Beach. I was initially skeptical as to how many people would flock to attend my lecture on the history of Long Beach when such a large smorgasbord of options was being offered. My concerns were assuaged, however, when I received a call from the organizers to ask if I would agree to teaching two classes because the first one had filled immediately. I finally gave two sessions of my power point presentation showing one hundred historic post cards to outline the history of Long Beach. There were other historic offerings as well, including walking tours and lectures by our Vice President, John Thomas, and our mayor, Bob Foster, and the opening of the Jergins Trust tunnel where Ken Larkey provided a film presentation of some historic events in the city.
I believe that the event was vastly more successful than the planners had hoped for. The classes filled quickly and a great many people had to be turned away, but they still brought a huge number of people to the downtown area of the city that they normally don’t visit. It really made participants aware of our built environment and the importance of preserving our history. My understanding is that plans are already underway for next year! The second incident of affirmation occurred in early December at the Bembridge House. During an afternoon meeting, I heard a bit of a commotion on the front porch. When I investigated, I found a very smartly dressed young lady of elementary school age surrounded by a number of young children. I listened to her for a few moments and realized that she was captivating her audience with the history of the house and the families who had lived there. The amazing fact that she had all of her information absolutely correct was almost eclipsed by the fact that all of the kids were listening intently and appeared to absorb what they were hearing. They asked me some good questions while I stood there. When I asked the young lady, who was a neighborhood child, where she learned all of that, she told me that her school had toured the house, and that she and her mother attended every function that we have presented for the community. She said she especially liked our members who portrayed the family during these tours.
This vignette was significant to me as it demonstrated the success of our efforts in that these children have begun to appreciate the history and culture of their community. Indeed, the young lady, who found it important to pass the information on to her friends, possessed great poise. The concept of preservation should begin in childhood.
The three precepts that I have held foremost have been education first, followed by preservation and advocacy. I am truly fortunate to have a board of directors and general members who support me in this, and apparently we are all right on target.
In addition to our constant efforts in the area of advocacy, on-going dialogue with the city of Long Beach, preservation of the Bembridge home and various programs that we provide are an invaluable means of conveying the message that preservation is a concept that everyone in the city should embrace..
—Stan Poe
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