Gentle reader,
Thanks for subscribing to our video newsletter, which mostly serves as a subscription channel for viewing the long form Los Angeles history webinars that kept us sane through the pandemic lock down.
This video vignette urges you to join us in a rather urgent effort to stop the city from secretly negotiating destruction of a beautiful and useful L.A. landmark. All it takes is a short email, or a few words to elected officials if you can join us at City Hall Tuesday afternoon.
Read on for the story… and where you come in!
In 2018, Catholic Charities (a non-profit that is not part of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles) purchased 846 South Union Avenue, the historic B’nai B’rith Lodge / Teamsters Hall (S. Tilden Norton, 1923), and applied for a demolition permit, announcing plans to build Union Avenue Village, a new structure to provide housing for at risk boys and foster youth.
The Los Angeles City Planning Department rejected the application, because B’nai B’rith is an historic resource located within the former CRA-LA Westlake redevelopment zone. The city also rejected a nomination to consider B’nai B’rith for landmark status, due to owner objection. Catholic Charities then filed a writ of mandate, asking the court to allow demolition—not to clear room for new housing, but simply permission to destroy the building and its priceless Batchelder tiles!
As of the most recent court date (1/9/2024), Catholic Charities and the Los Angeles City Attorney had not yet come to a settlement agreement. On Tuesday, 2/20/2024, the PLUM Committee of Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to hear about this confidential agreement in closed session, then vote on a matter that is of great interest to the public, but which no member of the public will be able to hear. This is item #3 on the agenda (Council File: 23-1407, Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles). We are asking PLUM to table this matter until after the settlement is made public, and to hold their discussion of Catholic Charities’ request to demolish this landmark of Jewish, Labor and Integration history in open, public session.
You can help save B’nai B’rith, by making public comment in person at City Hall on Tuesday, 2/20/2024 or by sending an email as soon as possible. Links and info are below.
To make public comment in person: be at Los Angeles City Hall, John Ferraro Council Chamber Room 340, 200 North Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 before 2pm on Tuesday, February 20, 2024. Sign up to comment on item #3 and on general public comment, and when called to the mic use your own words to tell the committee members that you care about B’nai B’rith Lodge and want them to table their discussion and their vote until after the proposed settlement is made public.
To make public comment via email, email as soon as possible and no later than 1pm Tuesday, to all of these addresses (councilmember.harris-dawson@lacity.org, councilmember.Lee@lacity.org, councilmember.yaroslavsky@lacity.org, councilmember.padilla@lacity.org, cd10@lacity.org, clerk.plumcommittee@lacity.org, cityatty.help@lacity.org, joanne.kim@lacity.org, helen.campbell@lacity.org) with subject line “Re: CF 23-1407, Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles (PLUM agenda #3).”
Below is a sample email (which you can customize with your own words):
Dear PLUM Committee members and staff, I care about the historic B’nai B’rith Lodge at 846 South Union Avenue, a landmark for the Jewish and Labor communities where the Teamsters Union was integrated, and thank City Planning staff for refusing to grant the demolition permit. Please table any discussions of a proposed settlement between property owner Catholic Charities and the City Attorney until the agreement is made public, and hold your discussion of potential demolition of this cultural and architectural landmark that is covered in priceless Batchelder tiles in an open forum where citizens can participate. Thank you. (name, neighborhood or city)
You can also submit your email to the public record by clicking NEW and posting it to the Council File page here.
LINKS ABOUT B’NAI B’RITH LODGE AND THE FIGHT TO SAVE IT
Steven Luftman’s Historic-Cultural Monument application for B’nai B’rith Lodge
Esotouric Webinar: The Bizarre B’nai B’rith Lodge Demolition Threat
Monsignor Gregory Cox objecting to landmarking at Los Angeles City Council (6/8/2022)
Catholic Charities Petition For Writ Of Mandate
The Law, as it may or may not apply:
Nathan Marsak’s R.I.P. Los Angeles blog post Save B’nai B’rith
The Artery LA’s full dronescape of B’nai B’rith and its remarkable neighbor buildings
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
Psst… If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar and a subscriber edition of this newsletter, vintage Los Angeles webinars available to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. We’ve also got recommended reading bookshelves on Amazon and the Bookshop indie bookstore site. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking and bus tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING BUS & WALKING TOURS
• The Real Black Dahlia Crime Bus Tour (Sat. 2/24) • SOLD OUT Know Your Downtown L.A.: Tunnels To Towers To The Dutch Chocolate Shop Walking Tour (Sat. 3/16) • The Run: Gay Downtown History Walking Tour (Sat. 3/23) • Franklin Village Old Hollywood Walking Tour (Sat. 3/30) • John Fante’s Downtown Los Angeles Birthday Walking Tour (Sat. 4/6) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown Los Angeles Walking Tour (Sat. 4/13) • Human Sacrifice: The Black Dahlia, Elisa Lam, Heidi Planck & Skid Row Slasher Cases Walking Tour (Sat. 4/20) • Downtown Los Angeles is for Book Lovers Walking Tour (Sat. 4/27) • Alvarado Terrace & South Bonnie Brae Tract Time Travel Trip Walking Tour (Sat. 5/4) • Charles Bukowski’s Westlake Walking Tour (Sat. 5/11) • Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice Walking Tour (Sat. 5/18) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 Walking Tour (Sat. 5/25) • POP – Preserving Our Past Downtown Los Angeles Walking Tour (Sat. 6/1)
Help us save B’nai B’rith Lodge at 846 South Union Avenue