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DECEMBER 6-7, 2014
SMART SEE PAGE 4
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310-720-7280
Volume 14 Issue 21
Santa Monica Daily Press We have you covered
THE HOLIDAY CELEBRATION ISSUE
James Turrell’s “Mendota Hotel” may be landmarked BY DAVID MARK SIMPSON Daily Press Staff Writer
MAIN STREET The Landmarks Commission will consider preserving the former studio of a world-renowned visual artist on Monday night. James Turrell, whose work was featured in a large Los Angeles County Museum of Art retrospective earlier this year, developed some of his first light projections - for which he is now known - at the brick building on Main and Hill streets in the Ocean Park
neighborhood. Today, the brick building features a Starbucks. Built in 1913, the Mendota Block building, as it is now called, was constructed as a mixed-use commercial building with shops on the lower floors and a long-term hotel and apartment on the upper floor. “The tenants over the years included short-term vacationers and long-term blue and white collar workers as well as retirees and widows,” according to a report from a city consultant. A pharmacy operated out of the lower
floor until the mid-1950s. Another storefront saw businesses come and go including “a spring water business, dry goods shop, a canvas shop, and for a short time a reading room called the Townsend Club #2,” the report said. “Following World War II,” the report said, “the area began to change and the redevelopment of Ocean Park between 1957 and 1964 involved the removal of many small hotels, flophouses, apartment buildings, stores, and other structures.” By the late 1950s and early 1960s the
commercial spaces were vacant with some tenants still living upstairs. Turrell bought the space in 1966, living on the second floor and turning the ground floor into his studio and exhibit space. Today, Turrell is known for his international exhibitions and his ongoing work on a crater in the Arizona desert. He lived in the Main Street space, which he dubbed the “Mendota Hotel,” until 1974 when he moved to Arizona. SEE LANDMARK PAGE 3
Repair Café offers free fixes for reusable odds and ends BY KELSEY FOWLER Daily Press Staff Writer
TREE OF LIFE & HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE
Maddy Tenzer editor@smdp.com
Woodlawn Cemetery, Mausoleum, and Mortuary hosted its annual holiday celebration on Dec. 4. The free event included a performance by the JAMS choir, photos with Santa, a screening of A Charlie Brown Christmas, personalized ornaments, holiday cookies and crafts.
1450 OCEAN Broken blenders, wonky laptops and even out-of-sorts VHS players made a showing last spring at 1450 Ocean Ave., as about 70 people sought the help of repair experts. Now, the city’s Resource, Recovery and Recycling Division will host a second Repair Café from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13 at 1450 Ocean Ave. Free repair will be available for appliances, bicycles, clothing, electronics, jewelry and more. Myesha Morrison, zero waste assistant, said after the first Repair Café this May, she heard from a number of people who missed the event and wanted to attend another sooner, rather than later. “With the city pushing re-use, it was just a natural progression,” she said. “There are now two Repair Cafes on our 2015 calendar, too.” This time around, USAgain, the contracted textile recycling company for Santa Monica, will build a mountain of clothing and textiles at the event, equivalent of one garbage truck, or 10,000 pounds of clothing. SEE REPAIR PAGE 3
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