Conservancy News

by Ruthann Lehrer, Advocacy Committee Co-Chair

City Council voted 6-1 on May 11^th to cover the historic mural in City Hall as part of its efforts to eradicate racial injustice in Santa Monica. The mural depicts Native Americans at a natural spring and the arrival of a Spanish monk and soldier in the 18^th century. It was created by renowned artist Stanton MacDonald-Wright who was Director of the Southern California Works Progress Administration, a program initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that provided federal grants for artists to create public art in public buildings for Depression-era economic recovery. Housed inside City Hall, a WPA project, the mural is part of a Santa Monica landmark.

City Hall mural by Stanton MacDonald-Wright. Photo: J.J. Prats c/o Historical Marker Database

As a history mural, there are indeed layered meanings, and implications about its subject. The mural shows two Native Americans kneeling by a natural spring, one drinking and the other with his hands in the water. The natural spring was the City’s first source of water, and still exists today in a nature preserve restored and tended by Tongva/Gabrieleno tribal members at University High School. Standing opposite the Native Americans are a Franciscan monk and a Spanish conquistador. Based upon Father Crespi’s diary of the Portola expedition of 1769, the scene represents the naming of Santa Monica.

The future subjugation of Native Americans may be implied by the positioning of the figures, and the mural evokes various phases of Santa Monica history, such as invasions of Spanish/Mexican conquerors and the Rancho period, when Native American lands were turned into large agricultural ranchos. California history has been rife with racial inequalities and social injustice, and the mural is a record of this difficult history.

The Arts Commission was poised to organize public forums to discuss the mural’s interpretation and how best to present it in its historical context while addressing racial injustice when the pandemic struck. The Commission is ready to do this again; however, with the shades pulled down and the mural obscured, it will be hard to have meaningful public engagement.

Rather than eliminate or cover the mural, what is needed are interpretative explanations alongside the City Hall artwork that place it in its historic context while engaging with issues of racial and social justice. The mural is an opportunity to educate our community about the original Native residents of the region, the founding of Santa Monica, the unfolding of California history in which Native Americans were decimated and how this history continues to impact our city and state. And so it’s not only important to preserve the mural, but to use it as an educational tool in a civic space. Additionally, the City should be proactive in using our public arts program to create new works that gives voice to our under-represented communities, like the Belmar History + Art project at 4^th and Pico.

If we are to tell the whole stories of our communities, then we must preserve and educate rather than erase or hide our history.

The pending demolition of Samohi’s History Building has gained national attention! Spotlighted in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s spring issue of Preservation magazine, this advocacy issue has reached national readership just in time for the observance of Historic Preservation Month in May throughout the U.S.

Image: The National Trust for Historic Preservation

Please join the Santa Monica Conservancy as we make one final energetic effort to save this important historic resource! Write directly to School Board members and ask them to reconsider their approval of demolition and evaluate adaptive reuse and rehabilitation.

About the History Building
Built in 1913 by renowned architects Allison & Allison, the History Building was the first and original building of the new high school campus atop Prospect Hill. It was then the Academic and Administration Building, serving as the heart of the new campus, which grew around it over time.

Severely damaged by the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, the rebuilding program by eminent architects Marsh, Smith & Powell cast the reconstruction in Streamline Moderne style. It became the crowning centerpiece of a number of WPA designs at the high school, linked architecturally and thematically with other important Streamline Moderne civic buildings in Santa Monica, such as City Hall.

As the City’s only high school, the History Building was part of many residents’ life experiences, creating strong feelings of loyalty to the place. However, the School Board approved a replacement project and was not willing to investigate the potential renovation or adaptive reuse of the History Building although it recently approved new historic preservation policies for the other school sites.

This demolition threat came to the Santa Monica Conservancy’s attention in October 2020 through an online petition that garnered around 6,000 signatures. We have actively advocated for historic preservation of this key building and other historic resources on school sites. Today, we need to make one more effort to turn the tide on the History Building, and we need your help!

How You Can Help
Please send an email to School Board members expressing your support for saving this irreplaceable historic building and ask for a study of adaptive reuse and renovation of the History Building. Your message, whatever length, will add to the public voices in favor of saving the History Building!

The Santa Monica Conservancy seeks an energetic, dependable and self-motivated part-time Office Administrator to perform a variety of administrative duties supporting the various functional areas of the organization. This is a contract position reporting initally to the President of the Board of Directors until the hiring of an Executive Director in 2022.  The Office Administrator will also work closely with the Communications Manager.

The successful candidate for this position will:

• Manage incoming email and phone calls, directing messages to appropriate parties.
• Systematize and archive files and records for events, committees and grants.
• Maintain the organizational calendar, tracking committee meetings, organizational events, grant deadlines, marketing campaigns as well as wider community, city council, and landmarks commission events.
• Prepare mail merges and mailings for members and donors.
• Assist in processing donations and membership payments.
• Update donor records in our database, sales platform and email system.
• Generate monthly reports on operations and issues for the Board of Directors, as well as annual reports for the city, donors, and other organizations.
• Support the Conservancy’s tours, workshops, and outreach programs by coordinating logistics, producing printed materials, and preparing post-event summaries.
• Update and maintain the Conservancy’s docent manuals, volunteer handbook, and policies and procedures manual
• Assist the Board’s Executive Committee with special projects, as assigned and agreed, that support the Conservancy’s mission and help build capacity.
• When an Executive Director (ED) is hired, support the ED in their coordination and oversight of the day-to-day operations at the Preservation Resource Center (once we re-open), including visitor services, special events, and preservation inquiries, volunteer management, inventory of office and cleaning supplies, and the scheduling of facility maintenance.

Skills, Experience, and Qualities: Demonstrated experience as an Office Administrator or other similar position requiring excellent organization and time-management skills. Ability to work independently in a collaborative environment.

• Good written and interpersonal communication abilities.
• Knowledge of Excel and Word are required; must be able to run calculations and sort in Excel; create mail merges, track changes and review in Word.
• Knowledge of WordPress, Adobe Acrobat and Constant Contact are a plus.

Hours:  The organization intends to hire an Executive Director beginning in 2022 and the responsibilities and hours for this position are expected to grow with that hiring. For 2021, 7-12 hours per week (or 28-48 hours monthly), increasing in 2022 to an estimated 15-20 hours per week (or 60-80 hours monthly). Work schedule flexible but must be available during regular business hours or as otherwise mutually agreed.

Location: Work will be remote. When we re-open our Preservation Resource Center in Ocean Park, some hours will be scheduled on-site.

Compensation: Commensurate with experience.

Application Deadline: June 1, 2021

How to Apply: Send resume and cover letter to [email protected].

The Conservancy is saddened by the passing of Julia Bogany, an educator and cultural advocate for the Gabrieleno-Tongva community. For over 30 years, she volunteered and led trainings and workshops as a way to preserve, revive and increase visibility for the Tongva language and culture.

Julia taught college classes on native culture, history and women’s issues at Scripps, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, the Claremont School of Theology and Pitzer. She also trained and consulted with teachers and school boards to revise their curriculum to reflect a more accurate history of California and California tribes.

She believed in advocating for and empowering youth in order to improve the lives of future generations. In addition, she served on many committees and boards, including as President of the Kuruvanga Springs, a representative for the California tribes on Route 66 and member of the California Native American College Board.

The Conservancy was honored to have Julia as a member of its 21^st Century Task Force, which worked to identify the most important issues on the horizon in Santa Monica, ranging from education, government, housing and sustainability to social justice and more. With deep respect, we honor Julia Bogany’s service and extend our condolences to her family and all who knew her.

by Sherrill Kushner

As part of the nationwide celebration of Black History Month every February, the City of Santa Monica Santa Monica hosted its 2nd Annual Black Excellence Community Awards program on February 25,^, 2021 through a virtual online program. These awards recognize and honor Black professionals who live or work in Santa Monica for their outstanding leadership and service.

Among those who were honored included Carolyne Edwards, Santa Monica Conservancy board member and her husband Bill. Both Carolyne and Bill have contributed greatly to amassing an archive on local Black history, started with Carolyne’s Uncle Alfred T. Quinn, a prominent Black educator, community leader and icon of the Santa Monica Bay area in the mid- to late-20^th century. To honor his legacy, Carolyn and Bill founded the Quinn Research Center as a resource for people who desire accurate historical information about African Americans in the Santa Monica/Venice Bay Area, from the early 1900’s to the present. The Center has sponsored programs and events to increase knowledge about the contributions of Black members of the community, past and present.

Congratulations to Carolyne and Bill Edwards. We look forward to working with you, especially in our efforts to secure landmark designation for historic properties of African American importance in the once thriving neighborhood of Broadway in Santa Monica.

A recording of the event is now available online.