What Say You? Rem Koolhaas in Santa Monica

Koolhaas/OMA proposal for 4th/5th Street and Arizona
Copyrighted Photo Courtesy of OMA

 SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

Rem Koolhaas is not a household name in Santa Monica.  But that is about to change.  Koolhaas, a Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate (think Best Picture/Best Director/Best Actor/Oscar) is the lead architect for the design of the public/private project at the 4^th/5^th and Arizona Street site.

Thomas J. Pritzker, President of the Foundation said,  “Koolhaas has been called a prophet of a new modern architecture.”   The Koolhaas firm, OMA, (http://www.oma.eu/oma) has built projects all over the world.  In the U.S. OMA may be most widely know for the design of the Main Library in downtown Seattle.

When the Koolhaas firm OMA was given the commission for the Main Library in Seattle the City was warned that they needed to “brace for a wild ride with a man famous for straying outside the bounds of convention.”  While it is true that the library is not conventional it is also true that it is a beloved public destination in the heart of downtown Seattle.  A beautifully conceived and executed space comfortably accommodating and welcoming large numbers of library users of all ages and an exemplar of green design.  

Looking at OMA’s conceptual proposal for the Santa Monica site we see how this proposal is specific to Santa Monica.   Specific to the climate, specific to the site, specific to the cultural of creativity and innovation that has been an historical tradition of Santa Monica. 

The open and porous building is designed to capture ocean breezes, offer spectacular views, express sustainable architectural principles, meet practical requirements such as parking and provide for restaurants and shops and housing at various income levels and more.   The oh so popular ice rink is included within a grand outdoor activity area designed to be programmed for markets and concerts and dinners and festivals and performances.  Koolhaas and his partner at OMA, Shohei Shigematsu, don’t live here but one gets the idea they know the City.

Santa Monica is in the midst of yet another building boom period.  Light rail, new parks, the Colorado Esplanade, many new hotels, Bergamot, the old Paper Mate site, Santa Monicans are discussing and arguing over size and scale and community benefits.  Under all the discussion and argument is the constant theme of how Civic identity is defined and protected.

It seems Koolhaas is offering a way to both build the City and to keep faith with the existing character of the City.  The building’s design expresses Santa Monica’s spirit of creativity, the high standards the City sets for itself in sustainability, and the identity of a City as an easy and fun place to live.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be discussion and argument.  The current proposal is conceptual.  One where the scale is human and understandable even though the building proposed is the 12 stories currently being discussed in a City-wide reassessment instead of the previously allowed 6. 

“OMA was chosen,” said John Warfel of the development company Metropolitan Pacific Capital (MPC) because we knew we needed to have a great piece of architecture.  The site deserves it and it will be welcomed in Santa Monica.  It couldn’t be just good, it had to be great and it had to be done right.”

MPC and its partner, Clarett West, will be before the Council at the August 27 meeting to seek approval to enter into exclusive negotiations for development of the 2.5 acre parcel which is currently the site of the Ice Rink, B of A, Chase Bank and Carlson’s.

City of Santa Monica Director of Housing and Economic Development, Andy Agle, said, “the City purchased these properties starting in the early 2000’s with the idea that we needed ancillary parking and other amenities to support the Downtown.  Soon after the properties were purchased we began the Community Visioning Process to set goals for the development of the properties.

“The Ice Rink had to stay, there was consensus on that.  We needed to meet public objectives for a very active public use of the site.  We needed to provide substantial public parking. 

“The City purchased these properties with Redevelopment Funds,” said Agle. “ Even though the State has now ended Redevelopment funding, previous contracts continue to be honored.  The City will own the land and the developer will build and run the project.”  City Documents, Staff Reports and developer proposals are available at: http://www.smgov.net/Departments/HED/eddContent.aspx?id=31664

2018 is the estimated move-in date.   There will be an ongoing public process.  Questions of scale, height, and the edge conditions of the property will be vigorously debated.  Programming of the property, the public uses and the public benefits will be vigorously debated.  Financial agreements should also be given great consideration.  Transparency is a keyword as this is City owned property. 

This City is changing.  In fact all cities change over time, for better or for worse.  It is up to Santa Monicans to make sure that the coming changes will continue to make Santa Monica an interesting, compelling and fun place to live.

Santa Monica City Hall displays signs boasting, “We Do the Right Thing Right.”  They are setting standards for their work and asking for public feedback.  That same motto could be applied to the Koolhaas proposal.  The OMA submittal to the City offers Santa Monica an opportunity to do the right thing right.   Great architecture needs a great client.  Koolhaas has made the offer.  Now it’s up to the City.

What Say You?

Hometown Hero: Lifeguard Captain Remy Smith

Lifeguard Captain Remy Smith

SUSAN CLOKE

Mirror Columnist

July 26, 2013

Why be a lifeguard I asked LA County Lifeguard Captain Remy Smith.  “I love going to work,” he said.  “Having to be ready to perform every day and having the chance to work with so many different people.  I love that it’s proactive work.  Our goal is to stop the bad things from ever happening.  We are there to help people, to make the beach safe for everyone, and to prevent accidents, injuries and deaths.”

Remy Smith was born in Australia in 1967 and grew up in New York, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.  “When I lived in LA I went to Area H Alternative School in Highland Park,” said Smith talking about his childhood.  “My friends and I would ride the bus to the beach on the days we weren’t playing baseball or football. 

“We usually went to Tower 26.  It was where the ‘cool kids’ hung out.  We rode boogie boards and we body surfed.”

In the 1990’s Smith went to SMC.  He’d been a baseball player but had to give it up because of a sports accident where he’d hurt his hand.  He wanted to stay in shape and he knew he could swim, even with a hurt hand.

“I joined the swim team and the water polo team,” Smith said. “I was the worst guy on the team starting out but in a couple of seasons I was the fastest in butterfly, individual medley and breast stroke.

“The team head coach was John Joseph, a legendary coach and the most winning coach in Junior College history.  Whether you were the fastest or the slowest he respected and cared about all his team members.  Stuart Blumkin, himself a star athlete, was our second coach and he and Coach Joseph made a good tag team.”

Smith said, “I had never thought about being a lifeguard but SMC has a long tradition of producing lifeguards.  Many swimming team members became lifeguards after graduating and would come back to train with the team.  The lifeguards who swam with the team inspired me to become a lifeguard.”

Being a lifeguard is a highly competitive position.  To be selected for an interview applicants must first race in a 1000 meter open water ocean swim.  Typically about 300 to 400 people participate.  The top 100 finishers are then interviewed.

Smith was 23 the first time he competed in the 1000 meter open water ocean swim and he didn’t make it.  The 54 degree water was too much for him.

In preparation for the next open water ocean swim he practiced over and over in cold water and even took ice baths to get his body accustomed to cold-water temperatures.  “For me to make it,” Smith said, “I had to put my mind in another place.”

Smith finished in the top 100 the second time he competed and secured one of the coveted interviews.  In the interview he told them, “I am a relentless person and I will really apply myself to this job.”

That got him the job and in 1991 Remy Smith became the sixth black person to be hired as a full time lifeguard.  When he was hired there were four black lifeguards and one black Section Chief, Russ Walker.

At that time there were 140 full time and 800 recurrent (part time) ocean lifeguards working for the County.  Everyone starts as a recurrent ocean lifeguard.   Before being able to become full time a lifeguard has to log 200 days of work, take a swim test and a written test, and be appraised for performance and knowledge.  Certification for lifeguards is an ongoing process and permanents continue to be tested twice yearly and recurrents once per year. 

Lifeguards are also part of the LA County Fire Department and Smith was at the Encinal Fire on June 22.  “Lifeguards help with all emergencies,” Smith said, “fires, car accidents, cliff rescues.  We do whatever is needed.”

Smith stated, “Being a lifeguard makes you grow up fast because you are responsible for people’s lives.  In the time I have been a lifeguard there have been over 1000 rescues by LA County Lifeguards at LA County Beaches.

“On one day in Zuma we made over 300 rescues.  It was 110 degrees in the Valley and over 150,000 people had come to Zuma Beach that day.

“Usually we get to people so quickly that they are more scared than hurt.  But at the end of that day at Zuma we had a boogey boarder who hit his head.   When we pulled him out of the water he wasn’t breathing and we couldn’t feel a pulse.  Thankfully we were able to bring him back.”

Smith said, “It takes special training to take care of the children we rescue.  One day a few other off-duty lifeguards and I were training on jet skis.  A 2 year-old boy had been pulled out to sea by a rip tide.  He was almost 300 yards off shore when we got to him.  We were just in time to save him.  I will never forget that rescue.”

Smith hopes to prevent accidents from happening, guarding the water and the beach.  He advises parents that, “Swimming is a life skill, everyone should learn to swim.”  He laughingly adds, “but teach them to swim in warm water because they’ll learn better when they’re comfortable.  And when you come to the beach make sure your kids know the number of the lifeguard tower where you are on the beach and teach them that lifeguards are their friends.”

Remy Smith has been on the job 22 years.  He was made a permanent hire in 1997 and promoted to Captain in 2006

“I didn’t realize it I was going to feel the way I did when I came back to Santa Monica but I felt I’d come home,” said Smith.

It was an understandable feeling given that Remy Smith’s great grandfather came to Santa Monica in 1908.  He was the Presiding Elder at Phillips Chapel on 4^th Street in Santa Monica.  Smith’s grandfather, Hilliard Lawson served on the Santa Monica City Council and his grandmother, Bernice Stout Lawson, was a well-known music teacher in Santa Monica.

Remy Smith 
photo credit Ruben Pena

For Smith home is Santa Monica and the ocean.  “Being a lifeguard is a lifestyle. Surfing is by far the most challenging way to stay in shape.  The waves are always changing.  It’s a mental and physical challenge.  When you catch a wave you’re walking on water and there’s no better feeling.  

“The most important thing to know,” Smith tells everyone, “is that the ocean is always in charge.”

Captains Of The Ship: South Beach Park Playground

Photo rendering courtesy KSA

Susan Cloke
Mirror Columnist
July 12, 2013

Have you seen the blue shade “sails” at the southern end of Santa Monica Beach and wondered what was happening? What you are looking at is the shade structure for South Beach Park, a playground specifically designed to be universally accessible to children of all physical ability levels.
The park will open this Saturday, July 13.  All are invited.  https://www.facebook.com/smbuap


The Santa Monica Disabilities Commission began a serious push to promote the idea of a universally accessible playground five years ago. They partnered with the City’s Recreation and Parks Commission, received City go-ahead, grant money was found, and the location determined.

Katie Spitz, head of the firm KSA, was chosen to be the landscape architect for South Beach Park.
“The idea of being able to work on the design of a universally accessible park has great meaning,” Spitz said.

The concept for universally accessible parks is not new.  In Los Angeles 15 parks are identified as universally accessible.  One of the LA universally accessible parks, 4th Ave. Park, was designed by Spitz and her team.

“We need to consider providing play experiences for children at all ability levels and to create opportunities for the social interaction that is a key element of play,” she said.

“We chose the theme of the boat because we could imagine children running and climbing in the boat but what is really fun is that they will bring their own inventiveness to their play on the boat. We made sure that all children, even children in wheelchairs, could get to the prow of the boat and pretend to be the captain of the ship.”

The images used by the design team came from historic precedents.  The shade sails are reminiscent of those at Pacific Ocean Park, the amusement park that used to be at the south end of Santa Monica Beach.  The boat is the focal park image. The park builds on the ocean theme with sand and water play and marine images.

Located just north of the border between Venice and Santa Monica, the blue sails and the surrounding palm trees of South Beach Park are designed to mark the entrance to Santa Monica. The image is one of fun and playfulness, of being at the beach.

Previously the 20,000 sq. ft. area had several picnic tables set in grass and a small sand play area. The existing palm trees will be incorporated into the design of the new playground.

Design work to help shape the park started in 2011 with the design team and city staff meeting with members of the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District PTA Special Education Committee, members of The Growing Place preschool, and residents of Sea Colony.   Public meetings on the design of the park were also held at Virginia Avenue Park and at Recreation and Parks Commission meetings.   Mostly, the meetings focused on thematic design and the choice of play equipment.

In addition to their interest in the design of the park, residents at Sea Colony were also concerned about issues of safety and traffic.  In response to their concerns the City will close the playground at night, add additional plant material along the fence, post signage saying “adults allowed only when accompanied by children,” add new signage and striping on the bike path, and a new crosswalk across the bike path.

Like all Santa Monica Parks, sustainability is a mandated goal.  The sustainable planting palette for South Beach Park includes lily-of-the-valley, quail bush, fortnight lily, wild lilac, white rosemary and trailing lantana. A fence that is 42” high will surround the park. A new path across the sand is also planned.

In designing the park KSA research helped to determine play activities that would be accessible, challenging and encourage independence.

Play equipment in the park is designed to meet specific needs of all children and to ensure that children at all ability levels can participate.   Sand tables provide face-to-face interactive play. The climbing net helps to develop motor skills, strength, coordination, and balance.  Water play areas and water toys are part of sensory play.   The theme boat stimulates imaginative play.

Parks are great places to have fun, to swing and climb and run. A park is a place where all you have to bring is your imagination.

I’m ready for this park and I’m ready to imagine the beach parking lots becoming green parks in the future.  Imagine the green of parks and playing fields next to the warm tan colors of the sand and the blues of the ocean. What an image that would be for Santa Monica.

What Say You?

Hometown Hero: 4th of July Main Street Parade and Lori Nafshun

First OPA Main Street Parade July 4 2007
photo credit Susan Cloke

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

“Main Street meets Doo Dah,” described Lori Nafshun, the Ocean Park Association (OPA) force behind the Main Street 4^th of July Parade.  “It’s a parade for everyone, for our political leaders and for the fun loving and the wacky.  It’s very Santa Monica and it’s special.”

The theme of this year’s parade is HEROES.  ”We honor the heroes who were the founders of the United States and express our patriotism and our allegiance to the principles of our democracy.  We also honor our own local heroes.  And everyone has their own personal hero,” said Nafshun.  “Heroes come in many shapes and sizes.  OPA invites everyone to come to the parade and let us know who your hero is.”

The Grand Marshall and Santa Monica Hero is Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks.  Embracing the theme of the Parade she stated, “Just as those who fought for this country's independence were the heroes of their time, those who fight for the safety of our community on a daily basis are today's heroes.  I am fiercely proud to represent today's heroes, the men and women of the Santa Monica Police Department.  I am privileged to be able to celebrate our heroes past and present not only as our parade's Grand Marshal but also as this community's Police Chief and I'm loving it."

Along with Chief Seabrooks, the Santa Monica Girl Scout Color Guard will be in the lead.  Local dignitaries including City Council Members O’Connor, Day, Gleam, Holbrook, McKeown, Vasquez and Winterer, former Santa Monica Mayors and Assemblyman Bloom will all participate. 

Keeping the faith with sustainability all dignitaries will ride in electric cars. Vintage cars are the exception to the green rule.  And the low riders will be back again this year! 

Parade music will be as eclectic as Santa Monica and will feature everything from the SAMOHI Marching Band, The Mariachi Conservatory, the SantaMonica Youth Symphony, the Americans, the FU Dogs and more.

Bike groups Bike Attack and the Freedom Riders and lots of neighborhood kids on decorated bikes will be in the parade.  As Nafshun says, “cyclists are heroes too – showing us how to change our ideas about transportation.”

What’s a parade without music and school kids, local dignitaries and local groups and horses!  The Santa Monica Mounted Police and a public group called the Santa Monica Mounted Posse will be showing off their beautiful horses and their horsemanship.

Local groups the Running of the Grunion and the Euclideans as well as local schools SMASH, the Edison Language Academy the Growing Place and Mount Olive PreSchool will all be strutting their stuff.

And lots more.  To register to march in the parade go to www.opa-sm.org/parade by July 1, 2013.  Registration is free.  Nafshun encourages everyone to follow the green theme and bring your own multi-use water bottle.

Santa Monica resident and former OPA president, Joel Brand remembers the beginnings of the Main Street 4^th of July Parade. “The parade was started in 2007 by a handful of people at OPA but it was really Lori who had the vision and the tenacity to make it happen.  Santa Monica didn’t have a 4^th of July parade.  It didn’t have a community celebration on the 4^th.  OPA believed Santa Monica would be a better place with a small town Independence Day parade where everyone could participate.  We have a fantastic community here in Santa Monica and we can’t do enough of these community events that help to bind us together. 

“It took a lot of conversation and cooperation between OPA and the City Staff and the Council for everyone to understand why it was so important to Santa Monicans and to the City to have the parade.  The late Council Member Ken Genser was especially supportive and helpful,” said Brand.

“It is people like Lori that make our City a great City.  She does this work because she loves Santa Monica and this parade is truly Santa Monica.”

Another former OPA President, Council Member Ted Winterer said “When Lori suggested the idea for the 4^th of July parade we all thought she was nuts. It seemed such an enormous undertaking.  Finally OPA decided we had to go for it.  After endless meetings and overcoming obstacle after obstacle we knew we were going to be able to pull it off but it wasn’t until the finish of the first parade when we realized it had succeeded beyond our expectations that it was easy to look at doing it again and again.  We were elated.”

The OPA Main Street 4^th of July Parade has, in seven short years, become a beloved institution in Santa Monica.  This Independence Day Parade is one with parades in cities across the United States in lauding and honoring the heroes of our nation’s founding.  We are particularly Santa Monica when we laud and honor our own local heroes. 

So we appreciate this time of joining together in expressing our patriotism and our gratitude for the freedoms of our country.  We thank OPA and all the volunteers and sponsors and supporters of the parade.  In our daily safety and in our sorrow at the recent tragedy at SMC we are grateful for our Chief of Police Jacqueline Seabrooks, the Grand Marshall of the Parade. 

We especially thank all the Santa Monicans who make Santa Monica a great place to call home. 

And we thank our Hometown Hero Lori Nafshun for her vision, her tenacity and her commitment to building community in Santa Monica.

Happy 4^th of July to all!  See you at the Parade!

Santa Monica Mourns and Heals

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist

“California Dreaming” could have been written for a day such as Friday, June 7, 2013.  It was a postcard day of sunshine, light breezes and ocean waves.  President Obama was in Santa Monica and the biggest problem of the day was avoiding the motorcade when driving through town.

Suddenly, the dream was shattered.  A shooter was killing people at Santa Monica College (SMC).  The news was, instantly, everywhere.  The City responded.  Santa Monica Police and Campus police teamed up.  Schools across the City were put on lockdown.  Streets were closed and traffic rerouted.  SMC campus was evacuated and the City held its collective breath.

The first call came in at 11:52 am.  Shots were heard.  Two men were killed.  A house went up in flames.  The shooter went on to hijack a car and terrorize the woman who owned the car into driving him to Pico Blvd where he shot into a car and a Big Blue Bus.  He then forced the driver to take him to SMC.

The shooter headed for the library.  The students who could fled the campus, dropping their backpacks as they ran.  In the library students barricaded themselves into what they hoped were safe places.

At 12:O5 pm it was over.  Wounded in a shoot out with two Santa Monica City Police Officers and one Santa Monica College Police Officer the shooter was moved to the sidewalk where he died.

All around town parents were waiting outside elementary schools for news and for the decision to be made that it was safe for the children to leave their schools.  While the parents talked and worried, the children were safe.  At John Adams they watched a movie and had cookies.  They came out to their parents happy and relaxed.

City Manager Rod Gould had, as usual, biked to work that day.  He told of being in a police car with Police Captain Ken Semko when, at 11:52 am, word came over the radio of shots being fired, a house in flames.  The Captain turned on the lights and sirens and they listened to the dispatcher giving information to the first responders.

“When you hear automatic gunfire everything in your DNA says run away,” said Gould.  “Our people were running toward the gunfire.

“We got to Pearl Street and went toward the library.  A man, dressed all in the black of the police uniform, was down and our first impression was that one of ours had fallen.  Then we realized it was the assailant.”

“13 minutes,” said Gould, “11:52 to 12:05.  It was over.  It was chaotic, it was frightening, but everyone pulled together and I’m fiercely proud of all our officers, our teachers, our bus drivers, and our public and community service employees.

“We have a mutual aid pact with other law enforcement agencies that we will help each other in emergencies.  We don’t bill each other; we just go when we’re needed.  A small army of SMPD, SMFD, BHPD, CCPD, LAPD, FBI and ATF were at the Command Center.  They formed teams to search the campus.  They needed to make sure there were no more victims needing help.  They needed to make sure no other assailants were hiding on campus.”

On Friday the gunman was still “the shooter.”  A terrifying man with an assault rifle, a gun, 1300 rounds of ammunition and he was killing people.  We learned later that his name was John Zawarhi.  He had gone to school in Santa Monica and people knew that he had mental and emotional problems as far back as middle school.

The first people he killed on that Friday were his father, Samir Zawahri, and his older brother, Chris Zawahri.  At the college he shot and killed the well-known and well-liked grounds keeper, Carlos Navarro Franco.  Marcela Dia Franco, Mr. Franco’s daughter, was at the college with her father that day to get her books for school.  She and Margarita Gomez were both shot during the mayhem on campus and were taken to a trauma center. Neither victim survived.  Six deaths.  Five victims.  One gunman.

Grief hit hard.  People got ready to deal with it.  To heal by helping each other.  To work to restore a sense of order and confidence.    Santa Monica had learned from other cities that had suffered from similar violence.  People talked of Boston, of Sandy Hook, of Columbine.  Santa Monica also shares with these other communities qualities of resilience and kindness and empathy in the presence of anguish.

On Saturday Santa Monica’s famous Paddleboard Races were dedicated to the memory of the victims of the SMC tragedy and spectators and competitors observed a moment of silence.

By Sunday, the parks were full of children playing soccer, families were at the beach, and people riding bicycles were everywhere.  It looked like a normal day in Santa Monica.  But at the SMC Bundy Campus many students, staff and faculty gathered for grief counseling.  Volunteers from the American Red Cross, the Clergy and from the college were there to help anyone who asked.  Local businesses donated food and while many people were upstairs in counseling sessions other people were gathering in the courtyard to eat and talk and be together.

The first of many memorial services was held on Sunday at St. Anne’s, just blocks away from SMC.  The Franco and Gomez families were there.  The Mayor was there, the State Assemblyman was there; neighbors and friends were there.  The outdoor sanctuary was beautiful.  Chui Tsang, SMC President said, “On Friday the tranquility of our campus was broken by violence.  Our deepest condolences go to the families of Carlos and Marcela Franco and Margarita Gomez.  I promise to you that this violent act will not take us away from our mission.”

On Monday, June 10 over 1000 people came to together at SMC Corsair Field to mourn.  People who didn’t know each other hugged each other.  The victims were remembered and families of the victims were honored.  Speakers called for people to come together in the spirit of the school and the community.

Ramona Franco, wife of Navarro and mother of Marcela, teaches at the St. Johns Child Studies Center.  At St. Johns a fund was set up for employees who wanted to contribute their PDO time (paid days off) to Mrs. Franco.  At the college memorial funds were being established for both the Franco and the Gomez families.

Sister Maureen Craig of St. Johns said, “This is the time when people put aside their problems and come to the aid of the person hurting grievously.”

Americans have shown they feel the same way as Sister Maureen.  In every tragedy people demonstrate great unselfishness and bravery as people come together to help and to heal.

Violence, senseless violence has become a fear we all live with.  All of us, it seems, but not all our Senators and Congressional Members. With 90% of Americans supporting strict background checks for gun owners they still didn’t vote for gun control.  Why not support the ban on automatic weapons?  Do they not share the anguish we all feel?  Do they feel immune?

The privilege of being an elected official should not be in the perks of the job, it properly is in the opportunity the job creates for doing good and for making life better for the people one serves.

To protect ourselves, our families and our communities we shall have to use the power of the vote and political and financial support to insist that gun control laws be enacted.  If we succeed in protecting even one child from the senseless and random violence of a madman it is worth doing.

  

Reimagining the Civic

1968 Academy Awards Ceremony
Santa Monica Civic

Reimagining the Civic         

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist

We sat on uncomfortable seats in Santa Monica’s beloved Civic Auditorium.  A full house was there for the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra’s “A Farewell Tribute to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.”   The all -Tchaikovsky program included a gorgeous performance by Antonio Lysy of  “Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra.”  The “1812 Overture,” written by Tchaikovsky in 1880 to commemorate “the defense of the motherland,” concluded the program and the significance of the piece was not lost on the audience.  When Conductor Guido Lamell closed the evening with a promise to be back at the Civic there was great applause.

Built in 1958 and given Landmark Designation in 2002, the Civic was known worldwide as the home of the Academy Awards. 1968 was the last year the Academy Awards were held at the Civic.  The awards ceremony was held late that year because of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The Civic has been the venue for artists andperformers who are part of the cultural history of the Country: Andre Previn, Dave Brubeck, Pete Seeger, Ella Fitzgerald, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Ray Charles, Arlo Guthrie, the Beach Boys, the Carpenters, Bill Cosby, Jonathan Winters, Allen Ginsberg, the Rolling Stones, James Brown, Sarah Vaughan, and Bruce Springsteen.

Designed by Welton Becket and Associates, the Historic Resources Technical Report cites it as “an excellent example of International Style design as applied to an auditorium.  It was also considered an engineering marvel noted for its use of hydraulics for raising and lowering the floor for multiple uses.”

“Functionally obsolete” was the description of the current state of the Civic by John Altschuler, a former Santa Monica City Manager and the Chair of an Urban Land Institute (ULI) panel discussion on the building’s future.  The ULI does think the Civic can be saved and has ideas for how to understand the urban design problem and how to finance the revitalization.

The panel was one of many outreach events held since the October 7, 2012 Council meeting where staff was directed to, in Jessica Cusick’s words, “beat the bushes to get public and expert opinion on a vision for the future of the Civic.  The Council had two goals:  to retain the cultural use of the Civic and to identify funding in light of the loss of Redevelopment Funds.”

Cusick is the Cultural Affairs Manager for the City.  She has been pursuing both goals and reports that there is “significant interest in revitalizing the Civic as a cultural venue by private sector businesses.  Given the interest from both the public and the private sector in preserving the Civic as the cultural heart of our city I am optimistic that we will be able to put together a way to fund the future of the Civic.”

The Civic is on the agenda for the June 11, 2013 Council meeting.  Council Member Winterer expects that will be the “beginning of discussions of public/private partnerships.” 

A week before the Council meeting there will be a community meeting to discuss ideas for the Civic.  The meeting will be held at Virginia Avenue Park, June 4, 2012, at 7:30 pm.  

The public interest has been long and well expressed.  The City has committed to protecting and revitalizing the Civic at least since the time of the original Civic Center Specific Plan.  The Santa Monica Conservancy, the Landmarks Commission and other organizations have expressed support and an interest in working on good solutions.

“Save the Santa Monica Civic,” an organization founded in November 2012 by Landmarks Commissioner Nina Fresco and a coalition group of well known Santa Monicans, is committed to “restoring and enhancing the Civic’s place as a vibrant cultural and community hub, as well as saving its landmark architecture and continuing its celebrated heritage.  We will seek to develop recommendations for a management approach that will be profitable and enable long-term efficient operation.  The coalition will help garner public support for any viable approach.”

When the Civic Auditorium was just an idea in the 1950’s, the Council established a Public Board to advise the Council on the development of the Civic Auditorium.   Given the broad public support for the Civic and the high level of interest, doesn’t it make sense to create an advisory board for today’s needs, composed of both public and private sector members and staffed by the City Manager and Cultural Affairs Manager, for the planning part of the revitalization of the Civic?

According to Sepp Donahower that Advisory Board could be the precursor to a Management Board on the model of the Pier Board.  Donahower was a pioneer concert producer who brought the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix and Janice Joplin to Los Angeles.  He believes it can be made to be financially self -sustaining.  “The Civic will only work,” he said, “if it’s part of something bigger – a cultural commons.  Give people a reason to go there, make it a fun thing.  We could have a great public plaza and garden with wonderful places to drink and eat and listen to good music.  Build an exhibition space that could also be used as a venue for films or a place to have weddings.  Maybe follow ULI’s suggestion and add a boutique hotel.  When you put sympathetic elements together it will create the environment for success, it will serve the entire Civic Center and energize the neighboring hotels and Main Street.  It will be a connecter.”  

Saving the Civic also supports the City’s goals for environmental sustainability.  Certainly, as was written on a Santa Monica Conservancy sign at the Main Street parade, “The greenest building is the one that already exists.”  

Let’s revitalize and keep the Civic.  Let’s also look at the idea of creating a Cultural District incorporating the Civic, using the adjacent parking lot as a site for a new building, compatible in scale and character but having its own identity, and create an art park that surrounds both buildings.

Saving the Civic is the right thing to do for so many reasons.  It’s time now for all ideas to be on the table to help us get from where we are now to once again having the Civic Auditorium be the cultural ambassador of the City.  We honor our history, we protect our cultural future, we enhance our international reputation, we support our commitment to sustainability, and we support our business community.  It is an exciting challenge and one I think we’re up to.

What Say You?

What Say You? Parks and the City Council

Susan Cloke
Columnist
Santa Monica Mirror

Santa Monica is having an identity crisis.  This city of 80,000 plus residents is internationally known for its ethos, life style, commitment to principles of sustainability and love of art, as much as its beaches and weather.

From its beginning the City was the landscape for the creativity and imagination of the people.  They built neighborhoods of wonderful bungalow houses with front porches and neighborhoods of elegant craftsman houses on wide streets planted with majestic palms.  Entrepreneurs brought their energy to the City and built the Santa Monica Pier, started the Paddleboard Races, opened restaurants and stores and businesses.  It wasn’t all perfect.  The City had its seamy side and there were disasters but overall the City thrived in the energy of its people and the natural beauty of the beaches of the Pacific Ocean and the mostly balmy weather.

This image of the City is now giving way to the demands of a new scale of development and a faster pace of life.  And it is the pressure, the push of new development and the faster pace of life that is pushing the current identity crisis. 

The flashpoint for this is the internationally recognized and iconic Palisades Park.  The Park is the grand promenade of the City.  A park of scenic vistas planted with specimen trees where people can find shade in a historic pergola.

Palisades Park Pergola at Sunset

Once Palisades Park was where people went to stroll, to watch the sun set over the Pacific, to picnic or to sit on a park bench and read.  In our time it became a park for joggers and is now the end point of the Los Angeles Marathon. 

Recently for-profit, professional trainers decided to offer classes in Palisades Park. They brought heavy equipment, tied exercise bands to trees and made the park a more crowded and louder place.  Residents were concerned and took their complaints about the fitness trainers in Palisades Park to City Hall.

The Council responded, seeing it as a matter of needing to create a citywide ordinance governing commercial fitness trainers in all parks.  A proper response to the ongoing problem of sharing public open space in a City with more demand for parks and playing fields than the City can currently provide.

But the concerns being expressed are about more than the appropriate regulation of trainers in the parks.  These concerns go to the heart of the identity crisis.  What is being asked is: Which parts of the City’s built environment are we willing to change to accommodate the pressures of this faster pace of life and which will be kept as they are?

Palisades Park is the flashpoint because it’s a public park of significance, of memory and of history.  Changing the character of the park goes to the core question of how the City Council will understand and govern given the pressures for changing the scale and the pace of the City.

At the Council hearing of April 23, Margaret Bach, representing the City Landmarks Commission, spoke about the need for “stewardship and protection of the City’s only landmarked park.”

Bach went on to say,  “It is a uniquely configured park– a narrow, linear park at the edge of fragile bluffs over looking the Pacific, 14 blocks long covering more than 26 acres. A destination for locals and visitors alike, it serves as a veritable museum of the history of the city. The park's evolution over the decades embodies its original public purpose.

“Preserving Palisades Park for public enjoyment, prohibiting equipment that can damage the park's many features, and clarifying the current regulation that prohibits commercial activity within the park --- these three objectives constitute the most appropriate, practical and fiscally prudent approach to a regulatory structure for this world-class resource. We are counting on the city to continue to be the responsible stewards of Palisades Park. Our landmark park is unique among parks in Santa Monica. It deserves special consideration and protection.”

In writing this article I spoke with several Council Members.  They are rightfully proud of the parks we have.  They all talked about wanting to build more parks, to make sure good parks are within walking distance of every residence, that there are more playing fields and more opportunities for people to exercise and to enjoy being outdoors. 

The City is committed to supporting an active lifestyle and that includes fitness trainers and classes.  Council Members directed staff to negotiate a compromise regulating the commercial trainers and to prepare regulations for review. 

The carefully crafted Staff Report to the Council looks at all the City Parks.  It recommends a series of regulations for commercial fitness trainers, including permit and license requirements, locations, conditions of use and so on.  In some of the City Parks Staff recommends no commercial fitness training be allowed, in some parks Staff recommends 1 on 1 or 1 on 2 commercial fitness classes be allowed, and other parks would allow commercial fitness with a trainer and groups.   The staff report recommends allowing commercial fitness trainers in both Palisades Park and the upcoming parks at City Hall with the condition that they limit their classes in those parks to 1 or 2 people.  The details will be spelled out in a new Ordinance scheduled to come to Council in June. 

Certainly fitness classes should follow the rules of urban politeness: share the park, protect the landscape and the furniture and buildings, clean up after themselves and in general be good citizens.

Trainers and the clients for the commercial fitness classes have participated in the crafting of the regulations and agree.  The one place where they disagree is they want to continue to hold group classes in Palisades Park.  They like Palisades Park best for its ease of parking, for its views and because people know it.

Stroller Strides, now called FIT4MOM, is a national franchise.  According to the testimony they gave at the Council hearing it’s a great program made greater by being in Palisades Park. But why wouldn’t it be a great program at the beautiful Annenberg Community Beach House, which has great amenities, ample parking and wonderful beach views; or Airport Park or Virginia Avenue Park, which are both great spaces and have ample parking.  I understand surf camps need the ocean and tennis classes need tennis courts.  But fitness classes don’t “need” Palisades Park.

Fitness training is a good thing.  Any one wishing to train in any city park is allowed as long as it’s not for profit.  The proposed regulations won’t change that.  The proposed regulations only address for-profit fitness trainers. In appropriate park locations the main concern with for-profit fitness training is that it’s pricey and that excludes many people who would like to participate. 

There are ways around this problem.  Other Southern California cities run their own fitness programs, making it financially possible for many more people to participate.  If the trainers want the benefit of public property maybe their fees should be regulated to be inline with the fees of Santa Monica’s other recreation programs?  Or maybe there’s a better answer?  Affordability is a problem the Council should consider in the context of the use of public property for private profit.

Even with good regulations and good will on all sides, when I listen to the conversation about commercial fitness trainers in Palisades Park I hear people asking that a line be drawn and that the trainers not be allowed in Palisades Park, the grandest of our parks, and that the Council recognize and honor the history, the geography, the ecology and the iconography of the park.

What Say You?