Active Arts of the L.A. Music Center Poised to Step Up for Downtown's Renaissance

The Los Angeles Music Center is poised to take a big step in support of L.A.'s Downtown Renaissance. We learned recently in an LA Times article that the Music Center's president, Stephen Roundtree, is in early discussions to take over management and programming of the 12 acre Civic Park, once its major makeover is completed.

This is good news for the arts, for L.A., and for the Music Center. As attendance drops and as communities become increasingly disenchanted with the "citadel on the hill" as the civic icon for music presentation, performing arts centers are looking for new paradigms for success.

In response, with leadership from its Active Arts program, the Music Center is broadening its mission and is re-thinking the architectural persona it presents to its community. It is transforming itself from a performing arts center to a civic cultural center.

And it is about to embark upon a redesign of its own plaza, with its iconic Joseph Lipchitz "Peace On Earth Fountain," in conjunction with the redesign of the Civic Park across Grand Avenue, both seen in the photo of a model of the site above.

Plaza re-designers will be challenged to make the structural links to the park that are necessary for embracing the community, since the Music Center is built upon a "hill" on top of an existing structure that provides essential parking, but serves to distance itself from the community. If the Music Center were built from scratch today, it is likely it would follow the path taken more recently by the Newark Performing Arts Center, keeping entryways at street level, and creating pathways that connect visitors with the city as part of their musical performance experience.

But, despite the architectural challenges, it is encouraging to note that, if handed the reins, the Music Center's Active Arts program would overcome these physical limitations for integration of the site with the community, through its unique management and programming.


(Click on "Active Arts" in "Labels" for this post below for previous posts on related topics.)


---RCH

Endorphines Prompt Lively Discussion

A good workout brings out the best in us. Some say it is the increased blood to the brain, others claim its the higher levels of endorphins. It's probably both.

I stopped to view the plume coming off a Wilmington oil refinery fire, seen in the distance, after my 45 minute vigorous walk on the Hill. Bryan, of Long Beach, did the same after running up the Hill's steepest street-- four times!

As we watched the plume grow, we started commenting on the parallels with the British Petroleum disaster currently playing out in the Gulf. I asked his opinion about how well President Obama is handling the disaster, and he gave me a nuanced response. "The situation is far too complex to pin blame," he said. He then went on to discuss the multiple agencies, jurisdictions and historic considerations involved, unwilling to join the large numbers of Americans who say Obama is not responding well.

"Complexity" kept cropping up, as Bryan ranged from problems confronted by developing nations; to his documentary video project in Guyana, (formerly British Guyana in South America) where he was born; to the challenges of living a life of principle, exemplified by the just deceased coach John Wooden.

Finally, we discussed the political complexities of preserving open public space, pointing to the Hilltop Park and the trails nearby.

Bryan, owner of an IT company in Long Beach found at Shuffler.com, runs daily on the Hill. "I love those trails," he said.

We shook hands twice before we parted, and said we'd be seeing each other on line and on the Hill.

-- See slide show to the right for the entire Pleasant Encounters project

-- RCH

"Tree Terrorists Attack Signal Hill"

Hyperbole ranks right up there with porn as something the Web needs less of. But I couldn't resist passing on a little hyperbole, myself.

Signal Hill Petroleum is offering a $2,500 reward for the arrest and conviction of "Tree Terrorists" who have sawn through or injected poison into about ten eucalyptus trees on the north slope of Signal Hill.

"We are sickened by these horrible acts of destruction and for the loss of these beautiful trees," said Craig Barto, SHP's president. The Signal Hill Tribune reported that the trees are 30 to 40 feet tall, and two could be more than 70 years old.

The largely undeveloped north slope, sprinkled with oil pumpers, has been basically open for hikers, joggers and people walking their dogs, according to one SHP official. The City of Signal Hill and the local Sierra Club have expressed interest in purchasing the 32-acre site for a natural preserve or a park.

The costly removal of the dying trees is necessary to protect hikers. A SHP official noted that "aside from the danger to human life, the trees add beauty to the hill and their root system prevent mudslides during heavy rainfall."

The Signal Hill Police is investigating. A common-sense lead would point to the new homes on the hilltop whose views may be compromised by the trees. City Planning staff, in the past, has noted that when view properties come up for sale, their owners are particularly insistent about tree removal or topping to enhance views and thus property values. The police would be wise to pursue this line of thinking in their investigations.

Here are a few more pictures. The damaged trees have been identified with a red ribbon.

http://bit.ly/90pewg

--- RCH

Short History of Signal Hill

Short history of Signal Hill tells us of our Native American and Spanish heritage. And then discovery of oil in the early 1920s changed everything. Here you see a photo of the Hill when it was called Porcupine Hill for the hundreds of derricks on the Hill. An intricate network of pipes connected the wells to oil collection sites, and eventually several small refineries.

Today, Signal Hill boasts high-end view residential properties, coexisting with wells that may produce for another 20 years.

RCH