2007 summer

T HE W HIT TIER C ONSERVANCY 1987-2007: Twenty Years of Preserving Our Past & Planning for Our Future

T HE P RESERVATIONIST C ONSERVANCY S UES C ITY T O H ALT D EMOLITION O F H ISTORIC S ITE Summer 2007

The Whittier Conservancy filed a lawsuit against the City of Whittier on Wednesday May 23rd in the Los Angeles Superior Court, to stop the demolition of the historic 1920s and 1930s Art Deco and Craftsman-style California Domestic Water Buildings on Whittier Boulevard in East Whittier. The lawsuit

S PECIAL

POINTS OF

INTEREST :

• To make a donation to help save the Cal Domestic Water Buildings, please see inside for more information!

• Check out the Whittier Conservancy website for important news , updates and past newsletters: whittierconservancy.com

was brought to challenge the City’s failure to follow mandates of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and City ordinances relevant to the demolition of historic buildings.

• Stay tuned...20th Anniversary Whittier Conservancy Awards Dinner in October!

[California Domestic Water Company Building, 1934]

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C LOCK R EMINDS C ITY OF A P AST T IME Among the many glassencased artifacts on display in the Whittier

[Phil Wintner, 2006]

City Hall lobby, there is one not easy to spot, ticking silently above the reception desk.

The polished silver-andblack clock with tiny glossy black hands has its own story to tell. It once told time inside the former Kodak building in Whittier, formerly an important player in the local economy with more than 300 employees.

From 1959 until the

Source: Whittier Daily News

building was torn down five years ago, the Kodak building on Rivera Road had been recognized for its architecture. Before it was razed, former Kodak employee, Phil Wintner, 90, of Whittier, saved the clock and two others like it for historic value.

“Kodak made quite a contribution to the his(cont. p.

2)

Green Dot?

The Conservancy depends on and appreciates your continued support! If your address label on this newsletter contains a green dot, we have not yet received your 2007 membership dues. We need your support more than ever to preserve and protect Whittier! Please see inside to become a new Conservancy member or to renew your 2007 membership.

T HE P RESERVATIONIST

P AGE 2

P RESIDENT ’ S M ESSAGE

Dorothea Boyd, President, Whittier Conservancy

W HITTIER CONSERVANCY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

2007 P RESIDENT - D OROTHEA B OYD V ICE PRESIDENTS - K AREN B ENNETT , S COTT C RAWFORD S ECRETARY – M EL S TURR T REASURER – S COTT N EAL C HARLES C LAVER H EATHER C RAWFORD M ICHAEL D ELGADO L ILYAN N EAL S AM G UYAN R EGINA P HELAN M ICHAEL TACCONI P HIL W INTNER T HE P RESERVATIONIST E DITOR : M ARIA C LAVER

P. O. Box 9114 Whittier, CA 90608 www.whittierconservancy.com

BY

D OROTHEA B OYD

In celebration of our 20th year, I have been reviewing past Conservancy newsletters. As a more recent member, it is with great interest and pride that I read of the remarkable number of important issues tackled by the Conservancy in just the first ten years.

Formed following the 1987 earthquake, members realized that saving what was left of historic Whittier would be an ongoing concern. The prevention of hastily built apartment buildings all over the damaged city was just a start. In 1989, the Conservancy protested the development of a 78 unit condominium complex in Worshaw Canyon without an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), resulting in the planning commission ordering an EIR. Again, in 1991, due to Conservancy

C LOCK

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tory of Whittier,” Wintner, a member of the Whittier Historical Society, said. “It was a major factor for several years.”

After Wintner recovered the three clocks, he gave one to a friend, kept another for himself and donated the third to Whittier City Hall.

“I wanted something that could memorialize that building,” he said.

[Whittier Theater, circa 1947]

input, another project for 54 adjacent to another of Whithomes was rejected by the tier’s lovely parks.

City Council.

In May of 1995, the City of But 1991 saw the demolition Whittier issued a proclamaof the landmark Whittier tion acknowledging the leadTheatre despite four years of ing role the Conservancy community and Conservancy played in local preservation effort to save it. Instead of an efforts naming the ConserOld Spaghetti Factory restau- vancy as the driving force rant that City Council has to behind the communities qualits credit yet another drug ity-of-life movement. store welcoming you to The Conservancy had also Whittier. received the Governor’s Later that year, the Conser- Award for “increasing public vancy and Friends of the Hills awareness of preservation” in protested Chevron’s develop- 1995. ment of 1400 homes with the Today the Conservancy conproposed Hadley extension. tinues in its efforts to inform Two years later, voters apthe public of issues pertaining proved Prop A to save the to quality of life, preservation hills. of historic and natural reSave the Depot became a sources and, when necessary, concern of the Conservancy. confronting the City Council.

Today we have a rare examWe urge you to renew your ple of a railway depot in memberships immediately to prime condition, used by the help the Conservancy to city’s Transit Department “Keep Whittier Special.”

Wintner donated the clock to the city about five

years ago, but it had rested, damaged and broken, in an upstairs room in City Hall.

That’s where city engineer Leon Yehula discovered it and took a shine to its handmade quality.

“When I looked at the clock, I recognized it was a very custom-made clock,” Yehula said. “It wasn’t something manufactured or fabricated in mass production. It was customized for some purpose.”

asked city officials for permission to save it for future restoration.

“By nature, I don’t throw things away, so I said we should save it and try to fix it later on,” Yehula said.

The electric clock would only run from an electrical outlet, which presented a problem. About six months ago, Yehula solved it when he found a mechanism that allowed the clock to operate on battery power. “I’m glad Yehula feared that the clock to see it up there,” Yehula would be discarded, so he said.

S UMMER 2007

P AGE 3

C ONSERVANCY S UES ...

In 2005, the City approved Cal Domestic’s request to replace its aging reservoir and pump house with new facilities. Among the project conditions were the retention of the four historic buildings on its original site and the blending of the design of the new buildings with the original office and pump house.

The Art Deco features of the 1930s historic structures were to be reflected in the design of the new construction.

However, Cal Domestic approached the City with an application for demolition of all four historic buildings in November 2006, including the 1934 office, 1932 pump house, and 1921 worker’s house and garage located at 15505 and 15521 East Whittier Boulevard. The City’s retained historic consultant and the Historic Resources Commission easily found these buildings

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to be quite relevant to the history of Whittier, especially East Whittier, where only a few such resources still exist. Families such as the Murphys (of famed Murphy Ranch) and the Wardmans (Whittier Telephone and Whittier College) were among those who utilized

the site and transformed East Whittier with their innovations. There are only five remaining sites left in East Whittier, and the Cal Domestic buildings, with their rich history and contributions to the development of the citrus industry and

East Whittier itself, are in fine shape and very worthy of saving. However, on May 8th, on a 3-2 vote, the City Council overturned the decision of the Commission and approved the demolition. Landscaping has already been removed from the site and demolition was imminent before the filing of the lawsuit.

ways fought for the quality of life in Whittier, especially for the retention and recycling of historic resources. In this matter, the City and Cal Domestic, in their haste to accommodate a proposed new restaurant at the site, did not follow the law. At the Council Meeting it was clear that Cal Domestic was also asking for a city subsidy in order to facilitate the deal with their potential lessee. The Conservancy does not believe that the taxpayers should foot the bill for a private company to demolish a unique historic community resource and put in yet another cookie cutter development. The existing buildings are in very good shape and the possibility of turning them into a restaurant should be considered.

The Conservancy has filed this legal action to stop the demolition because CEQA requires California cities to prepare an Environmental Impact Report before considering the demolition of historic buildings. The EIR analyzes the proposed project and its impacts, and considers feasible mitigations and – most importantly – alternatives to demolition that could allow the project to go forward without losing important cultural resources unique Conservancy member to a community.

Charles Claver stated: The Conservancy has al- “Suing the City is not

2007 M EMBERSHIP F ORM

Yes! I want to be a part of the Whittier Conservancy!

O $10 Student

Name ___________________________________

O $25 Individual

Address _________________________________

O $45 Family

________________________________________

O $100 Patron

Email Address _____________________________

O $__ Donation

Phone # _________________________________

O I’d like my donation to go specifically to save the Historic Cal Domestic buildings.

Please return this form with your membership fee (checks payable to the Whittier Conservancy) to: Whittier Conservancy, PO Box 9114, Whittier, CA 90608

C ONSERVANCY S UES ... something that the Conservancy takes lightly. It has become apparent in the past couple of years that the City has become careless with the community’s historic resources that it is entrusted to safeguard. Recent decisions by the current city council have begun to erode some of the very important gains made in Whittier following the 1987 earthquake. The Cal Domestic demolition was the last straw. If the City can’t

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function legally, then we simply have no choice but to challenge its actions.”

Conservancy President Dorothea Boyd urged the city to act responsibly and consider adaptive reuse as required by CEQA: “It is the most successful type of development currently driving the renovations of most cities. People can get corporate, replicated, cheaply-constructed fad development anywhere and everywhere. Whittier is special. Let’s keep it

that way. We fought this battle already, after the earthquake. Enough already. East Whittier deserves some recognition for its contribution to the history of our city. Cal Domestic has been a prominent feature on Whittier Blvd. for 75 years. There’s just no reason to destroy those lovely buildings.”

Historic preservation attorney Susan BrandtHawley, representing the Conservancy, stated that,

“the City’s failure to comply with CEQA in approving the demolition of the Cal Domestic buildings is blatant. In similar cases around California, we have found that when a City takes a fair look at incorporating historic resources into a project, as required by law, a feasible alternative for adaptive reuse is often discovered. The resulting project becomes a great community asset reflecting its unique history.

That is what should happen here.”

Conservancy/ Community Calendar of events July-August 2007 Concerts in the Park Every Monday Night, 7pm, Central Park Every Thursday Night, 7pm, Parnell Park

T HE W HIT TIER C ONSERVANCY P. O. Box 9114 Whittier, CA 90608 www.whittierconservancy.com

July 15, 2007 Taste of Whittier www.whittieruptown.com

August 18, 2007 7th Annual Uptown Whittier Car Show www.whittieruptown.com

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID WHITTIER, CA PERMIT NO. 177

Return Service Requested

Cal Domestic Pump House, 1932

PRESERVING OUR HISTORIC AND NATURAL RESOURCES