**THE OLDEST GRAFFITI READS: "LARRY G. EATS LOBS!" A Lob is dried cow poop.
**Don't let them win, we need funds to buy the properties to make them historic~
backhoe Monday ripping down both houses at 5258 Hermitage Ave. The owner, Joe Salem of Hermitage Enterprises LLC, could not be reached for comment. City officials said he’d sought a demolition permit last year to build condos.
**But during the same time, almost at the very inception, Leslie Siegel OFFICIAL-UNOFFICIAL Treasure Hunter and Historian of Valley Village, CA stepped up to the plate a bit late. The house two blocks from the usual spot Siegel looks for the lost history of Valley Village, CA, had already been razed. "I was as devastated as the neighbors involved in it," said Siegel. She still has not been to the site. "...It's just too painful."
There are several others involved and Treasure Hunter Writer Leslie Siegel likes to call them Activists, because there is really not much that can be done once the permits have been sent out and the demolition starts. All Siegel can do is see what can be salvaged, certainly not from the Monroe house itself, but in other places around it. There is still a chance if the activist want Siegel on the project.
(Photo by Leslie Siegel)
*“There are hundreds, if not thousands, of houses associated with celebrities.”
**Don't let them win, we need funds to buy the properties to make them historic~
**There's not many left and Valley Village, CA has some gems not yet discovered.
Treasure Hunter Leslie Siegel said, "David Carradine's family were born and grew
up on Ben Avenue, in Valley Village when it was just farms, ranches and fields.
Treasure Hunter Leslie Siegel said, "David Carradine's family were born and grew
up on Ben Avenue, in Valley Village when it was just farms, ranches and fields.
1/5
*A backyard home where Marilyn Monroe lived when she was first discovered as a bombshell pin-up was slated this week to be considered for landmark status.
But three days before the hearing, a developer bulldozed the Valley Village home.
“I can’t even breathe. My neighbors and I are in mourning,” said Jennifer Getz, of Valley Village, who had nominated the so-called Dougherty House for designation as a city Historic-Cultural Monument. “It’s one of the biggest losses in the San Fernando Valley.
“I’m beyond outrage.”
A case for preserving a plain pair of single-story houses — the front one built during World War II, the rear thought to have been an early-century gabled farm house where Monroe then lived — was to have been heard Thursday by the Cultural Heritage Commission.
But then neighbors discovered a heavy
It was there that 17-year-old housewife Norma Jean Dougherty moved in with her in-laws in April 1944 while her sailor husband James was far away at sea.
While at her wartime job inspecting parachutes, Dougherty was picked to model for morale-boosting military magazines by a photographer sent by U.S. Army Capt. Ronald Reagan. Her career took off, and she became an actress.
She moved out of the North Hollywood area house in the summer of 1945, would soon divorce Dougherty and went on to become the iconic Marilyn Monroe.
(PHOTOS BY LESLIE SIEGEL)
(PHOTOS by Leslie Siegel & Lew Hauser)
*City officials said the house wasn’t significant enough to be named an official landmark. Not only did the house not have any distinguishing characteristics, according to city planners, but the actress didn’t become a movie star until long after she moved.
“Obviously, Marilyn Monroe is an iconic figure,” said Ken Bernstein, director of the Office of Historic Resources, who opposed the Monroe landmark. “But while she had been living in the house when discovered, the house … isn’t associated with a productive period in her career.
**Treasure Hunter Leslie Siegel sees it differently. She has found many things thrown away that are a link to an illustrious past besides Marilyn Monroe, there have been many others that go unnamed once the construction begins. It is indeed sad that it's a hand full like Leslie Siegel and the other woman on the news, because we need more to stop this madness and keep Valley Village CA the way it was intended.
*“There are hundreds, if not thousands, of houses associated with celebrities.”
Critics of the demolition blame Councilman Paul Krekorian, whose office would not support the landmark request or step in to help save the house.
They also accuse the developer of tearing down the house just after the landmark hearing was posted, and before the commission could put the brakes on demolition, a common practice across the city. They also accuse him of violating a law requiring a 30-day public notice to demolish buildings older than 45 years.
“It was never posted,” said Los Angeles historian Charles J. Fisher, who penned the Dougherty House nomination. “The problem is that the city failed to adhere to the law. We’ve lost a portion of Marilyn Monroe’s life, a very significant portion.”
A spokesman for the Building and Safety Department, which issues demolition permits, did not respond. A Krekorian spokesman said neither the South Valley Area Planning Commission nor the Department of City Planning deemed the former Monroe house worth preservation.
“We do, in some cases, advocate for historic status,” said Ian Thompson, spokesman for the District 2 councilman. “This one … I don’t think anything in the staff report says it was of any great architectural significance, especially since Norma Jean only lived there one year.”
So the only thing we can do is wait to make the move to save the other homes. There may still be time as Ms. Siegel learns of the situation and where the Activists stand. Right now everyone is waiting for the next move and a backhoe doesn't seem to be in the cards for the neighbors of the quiet, quaint, cute enclave.
(Photo by Leslie Siegel)
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* Daily News excerpt (Article is Daily News-published) (c) 2015, credit for paragraph.
** Leslie Siegel (c) 2015 Some Paragraphs represent Treasure Hunter Leslie Siegel, marked with "**".
So the only thing we can do is wait to make the move to save the other homes. There may still be time as Ms. Siegel learns of the situation and where the Activists stand. Right now everyone is waiting for the next move and a backhoe doesn't seem to be in the cards for the neighbors of the quiet, quaint, cute enclave.
====================================================================
* Daily News excerpt (Article is Daily News-published) (c) 2015, credit for paragraph.
** Leslie Siegel (c) 2015 Some Paragraphs represent Treasure Hunter Leslie Siegel, marked with "**".
