Conservancy News Feed | Santa Monica Conservancy

Virtual Tour + Free Brochure: Our 1897 Shotgun House

April 13, 2020

Step inside our 1897 Shotgun House, the last intact one in Santa Monica. Our virtual tour takes you through the three board-and-batten rooms where you can explore Santa Monica history and learn about preservation. Look behind the walls and flooring to reveal vintage materials, and see if you can find the one original window in our Shotgun House.

Tips for Navigating

Click the “360” icons to rotate your exterior view of the house.
Click the “Walking Person” icon to enter the house.
Press the “Play” button in the bottom left to start a guided tour.
Click on the orange dots to access more information about a feature.

The 3D scan of the house was created by Lucas Preti of Coral Climb Productions, a boutique company based in Santa Monica with expertise in documentaries, virtual reality and augmented reality.

Shotgun houses originated in the Caribbean and quickly sprang up in the rural South and became popular during the Civil War as field housing. In the West, they sprang up in mining towns to shelter railroad workers and families of limited means. In Santa Monica and other resort areas, they were used as vacation cottages.

Our Shotgun House began its life near the Santa Fe Railroad Depot and was moved three times before settling at 2520 2nd Street. The Conservancy rehabilitated and transformed the house into a Preservation Resource Center, which opened in 2016.

Discover the journey of our tenacious little Shotgun House by downloading our free brochure below. Donations welcome.

Preservation Resource Center Shotgun House

Discover the Neighborhood: Downtown Santa Monica

April 6, 2020

The Santa Monica Conservancy will be providing a weekly newsletter while much of our world is shut down due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Each week, we will bring you digital resources related to preservation with the aim of helping you connect with our community and beyond. Sign up here, if you’re not already on our mailing list.

As part of our weekly offerings, we are bringing you Discover the Neighborhood, free digital downloads of our tour brochures and booklets so that you can explore our city from the comfort of your home.

Discover the Neighborhood

Downtown Santa Monica

Downtown Santa Monica’s first theater, the Majestic Theater, was built in 1929.

Explore a lavish Art Deco hotel that doubled as a speakeasy during Prohibition, Downtown’s first theater and more! Our beautifully illustrated Downtown Santa Monica booklet offers 28 pages of early Santa Monica history, 24 architectural sites, 3 lost buildings, a convenient walking route and a helpful glossary.

Our digital downloads enable you to view architectural and historical highlights of the district and learn about the evolution of the neighborhood from the comfort of your own home. If you do go outside for a walk to view the sites listed, please remember to put six feet of distance between you and others. The latest COVID-19 updates for Santa Monica can be found here. Downloads are free. Donations are welcome and appreciated.

We thank our sponsor Downtown Santa Monica Inc., a private 501c(3) non-profit that promotes economic stability, growth and community life within Downtown Santa Monica and the Third Street Promenade.

Discover the Neighborhood Downtown Santa Monica

Discover the Neighborhood: Third Street Neighborhood Historic District

March 30, 2020

The Santa Monica Conservancy will be providing a weekly newsletter while much of our world is shut down due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Each week, we will bring you digital resources related to preservation with the aim of helping you connect with our community and beyond. Sign up here, if you’re not already on our mailing list.

As part of our weekly offerings, we are bringing you Discover the Neighborhood, free digital downloads of our tour brochures and booklets so that you can explore our city from the comfort of your home.

Discover the Neighborhood

Third Street Neighborhood Historic District

2621 2nd Street, built in 1875.

Explore Santa Monica’s first historic district neighborhood, designated in 1990, which protects a high concentration of historic structures exemplifying the early development of Ocean Park. The area preserves many circa-1900 bungalows as well as four structures from the late 1800s, including landmarks like the 1893 Hostetter House as well as what may be the oldest wooden structure in Santa Monica.

Our digital downloads enable you to view architectural and historical highlights of the district and learn about the evolution of the neighborhood from the comfort of your own home. If you do go outside for a walk to view the sites listed, please remember to put six feet of distance between you and others. The latest COVID-19 updates for Santa Monica can be found here. Downloads are free. Donations are welcome and appreciated.

Discover the Neighborhood third street historic district

An Update from the Santa Monica Conservancy

March 25, 2020

Members and Friends,

Thank you for your ongoing support. It is because of your interest in preservation that we have been able to achieve the many accomplishments that define the Conservancy. Your feedback has kept us focused and your support–whether it is financial, volunteering, speaking up when historic properties are at risk, or all three–has enabled us to do our work and introduce more people to our organization and the urgency of our mission.

We are reaching out to you today to express our hope that you and your loved ones are safe and well, and to let you know how the Conservancy is complying with City of Santa Monica, Los Angeles County and state requirements for slowing the spread of COVID-19.

Operation of our Preservation Resource Center, our Downtown Walking Tour and our tours of the Annenberg Community Beach House will now be suspended through at least April 30, or until we receive word that it is safe to resume them. We are also postponing our Annual Meeting, previously scheduled for May 2 at the historic Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica. In addition, we have suspended the mailing of membership and donation receipts at this time due to the temporary closure of our Center.

Although the Preservation Resource Center is closed, we are committed to keeping you informed about preservation issues and providing digital content that fulfills our educational mission.

Please email us at rsvp@smconservancy.org or leave us a voicemail at 310-496-3146 if you have any questions or concerns–or want to let us know about preservation-related content you have found inspiring and would like us to share.

Thank you for supporting the Conservancy. We wish you good health and comfort as we face this challenging time, together in spirit if not in person!

Sincerely,
Tom Cleys, President
Carol Lemlein, Executive Director

Preservation Resource Center

New Board Leadership

March 2, 2020

The Board of the Conservancy elected new leadership at its retreat in November 2019. The new officers are:

Tom Cleys, President, was the Conservancy’s founding President and has served as Treasurer over the last 17 years. He recently retired as Vice President, Asset Management at Mesa West Capital and is now spearheading a vigorous effort to implement the Conservancy’s Strategic Plan. He is currently a member of the Santa Monica Urban Forest Task Force and a former Board member of Friends of Sunset Park.

Carol Lemlein, Vice President, served as Conservancy President for the past 12 years. She is Co-Chair of the Conservancy’s Advocacy Committee and will volunteer as acting Executive Director until the position is filled. Shechaired the Steering Committee of the 2011 California Preservation Foundation Annual Conference in Santa Monica and was co-developer of the Conservancy’s Downtown Walking Tour.

Liz Coughlin, Treasurer, joined the Board in 2018 as a member of the Conservancy’s Communications Committee.  She co-founded the real estate brokerage HD Properties, Inc. and was a former digital media executive at Yahoo and Edelman. She also volunteers with IndiLab, a dog rescue.

Mario Fonda-Bonardi, AIA, Board Secretary, is the founder of Fonda-Bonardi & Hohman Architects, specializing in residential design, and was the architect for the renovation of the Shotgun House. He is a member and former Chair of the Santa Monica Planning Commission and a former member of the Third Street Historic District Community Participation Committee.

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