The Santa Monica Conservancy is excited to announce our 2023 Preservation Award winners! These seven projects demonstrate that preservation practice in Santa Monica is multidisciplinary, collaborative, creative, and rooted in authentic storytelling about people and place.
Read on to learn about the adaptive reuse of the downtown Sears Building, 18th Street Arts Center's Culture Mapping 90404 project, the rehabilitation of The Georgian Hotel, and more! Members of each project team were honored during our Annual Meeting on June 10. Click the link below to watch a recording of the 2023 Preservation Awards presentation online.
The Awards Committee congratulates these exemplary individuals, organizations, and teams for their preservation, advocacy, and stewardship in our city!
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Cultural Heritage Award
Broadway to Freeway: Life and Times of a Vibrant Community
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Image courtesy of the Santa Monica History Museum. Artwork by Jeanine Harrington-Brinker |
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Santa Monica History Museum
Rob Schwenker, Executive Director
Sara Crown, former Curator
Anne Wallentine, Curator & Collections Manager
Lisa Dannenbaum, Communications and Content Manager
Sue Gabriel Potter, President
Kathleen Rawson, Board Chair
Quinn Research Center – Carolyne and Bill Edwards, Directors
Santa Monica Conservancy – Nina Fresco, Board of Directors
Santa Monica Public Library
Susan Lamb, Principal Librarian
Kathy Lo, Librarian
The Santa Monica History Museum’s exhibition, Broadway to Freeway: Life and Times of a Vibrant Community featured the tight-knit neighborhood along Broadway, built by African American, Mexican American and immigrant communities in the mid-20th century. With period photographs, advertisements, oral histories, and songs drawn from the collections of the Quinn Research Center, the Museum, and the Santa Monica Public Library, the exhibit focused on the neighborhood’s families, businesses, churches, and civic and educational institutions. The community was forcibly displaced, and many of its buildings demolished in the 1960s to build the 10 freeway. Broadway to Freeway has helped bring the stories, meaning and impact of this historically significant community back into public memory.
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Cultural Heritage Award
Culture Mapping 90404, 18th Street Arts Center
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Image courtesy of 18th Street Arts Center |
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Jan Williamson – Executive Director
Kim Russo – Deputy Director
Michael Ano – Senior Director of Public Engagement
Sue Bell Yank – former Director of Communications and Outreach
Jeny Amaya – Filmmaker
Dr. Annette Kim – USC Sol Price School of Public Policy
Facilitated by 18th Street Arts Center (18SAC), Culture Mapping 90404 is a community produced GIS Story map that highlights the history and cultural assets of the city’s Pico neighborhood. Since many cultural assets carry historic significance, the process of collecting and sharing their stories is central to keeping history alive through place. This is especially important in the Pico Neighborhood which until recently, was largely ignored by history keepers and unknown to new residents. In collaboration with the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, 18SAC trained community volunteers to document the people, places, events, and organizations that serve as anchors of the Pico community, for inclusion in the map. Since 2015, over 150 oral histories have been gathered and made available on the website. The map informs city policy, strategies in community-building and a number of 18SAC artist-led projects. Earlier this year, the center was awarded a $3.3 million dollar grant from the California Arts Council to expand the project into other communities statewide.
Click here to explore the map.
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Rehabilitation and Adaptive Reuse Award
Sears Building, 302 Colorado Avenue
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Colorado Ave. entrance. Photo courtesy of HRA |
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Owner – Seritage Growth Properties
Architect – House and Robertson Architects
Structural Engineer – Nabih Youssef Structural Engineers
MEP Engineers – ARC Engineering
Historic Preservation Consulting – Historic Resources Group
Landscape Architect – L.A. Group Design Works
Contractor – VCC Construction
Designed by architect Rowland H. Crawford (Brentwood Country Mart, Times-Mirror Building), the former Sears department store opened in 1946 to capitalize on post-war consumer demand. Sears closed its downtown Santa Monica store in 2017 and the designated City landmark was purchased by real estate investment firm Seritage Growth Properties who launched an ambitious program to adaptively reuse the building as retail and office space. The project team referenced original photographs and design/construction drawings to replicate original materials and details, removed years of ad hoc modifications and successfully brought the building back to its original clean art deco styling. Structural modifications included interior concrete shear walls and carbon fiber reinforcing of the existing structure. In addition, the team worked to bring in more natural light through a large skylight on the roof and a central opening and smaller skylights on the third floor while preserving the intact historic facades.
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Rehabilitation Award
The Georgian Hotel, 1415 Ocean Avenue
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Image courtesy of The Georgian Hotel |
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Owners – BLVD Hospitality & ESI Ventures
Architect – HLW Design
Interior Design - Fettle
The Georgian Hotel has been one of the most iconic buildings in Santa Monica since it first opened in 1933. Almost a century later, the property’s newest owners, BLVD Hospitality and ESI Ventures, have completed a thorough rehabilitation program that honors its glamorous history and art deco styling, while simultaneously creating an environment that will inspire new stories. Starting in 2020, the team meticulously researched the story of the hotel to inform the historically inspired rehabilitation. BLVD broke ground on the project in 2022 with renovation of the 84 guest rooms, ground floor lobby restaurant, meeting and event spaces and The Georgian Room, formerly a speakeasy known as The Red Griffin. The Georgian’s pattern and color inspiration mark significant historic design movements that were drawn from the diverse history of the Art Deco movement, as it traveled east to west. BLVD took care throughout the project to substantially modernize building systems and utilize high-efficiency lighting and pluming solutions to meet today’s hospitality sustainability standards.
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Media Award
The Street Seen, Mark Gorman
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Ocean Park local and street historian Mark Gorman has published his popular blog, The Street Seen, twice a month since January of 2020. His work focuses on the people, places and forces that have shaped Santa Monica’s Ocean Park neighborhood over time. By investigating this relatively small collection of streets from Lincoln to the Ocean, and Pico to the southern border at Venice, Gorman has built a comprehensive context for understanding the neighborhood today. His self-described “intermittent observations (without commentary),” prove that the remaining traces of the history of Ocean Park are everywhere. Gorman’s blog demonstrates both affection for and deep curiosity about Ocean Park that have undoubtedly increased the public’s shared appreciation for local heritage and contributed to the neighborhood’s sense of community.
Click here to read the The Street Seen.
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Volunteer Award
Catherine Conkle
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Catherine Conkle’s contributions to the Conservancy demonstrate a deep affection for the city, commitment to preservation and an astute sensibility. As the youngest member of the board, Conkle founded the Preservation Next affinity group in 2019 to cultivate the next generation of preservationists. Members meet for lectures, tours, and social events and connect over the issues they care about. Conkle believes that historic preservation helps us tell the story of the community, while also celebrating architecture, design, and sustainability. She particularly loves learning about the inspirations and motivations of the people who create the built environment. Conkle previously chaired the Preservation Resource Center Committee and was instrumental in the development of the virtual tour capability. |
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Volunteer Award
Robin Venturelli
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Robin Venturelli became a charter docent for the Annenberg Community Beach House tour program in 2009. Ever since, she has made many outstanding and significant contributions to the program and social cohesion of the group, due to her enthusiasm, spirit, and care she brings to the program and her fellow docents. As a member of the Docent Council, Venturelli creates a video screening of the year in review for each annual Volunteer Party. She also regularly compiles collections of vintage music to animate the Council’s get-togethers. Perhaps her most enchanting contribution is her portrayal of Marion Davies at Beach House’s annual Marion Davies birthday celebrations. Her sparkle and vivacity capture Marion’s personality, allowing partygoers to feel as if Marion Davies were actually present. |
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Conservancy Tours & Events |
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Enjoy a free tour led by Conservancy docents and learn about the rich history of the Marion Davies Guest House, which was built by William Randolph Hearst for actress Marion Davies. The hottest spot on Santa Monica’s Gold Coast during the 1920s, guests included Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo. The 20-minute tours are available on a walk-up basis. Learn more
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Tours offered on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month at 10 a.m.
June 17, July 1 & July 15
1436 2nd Street
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Discover the architectural gems and rich history of Downtown Santa Monica on our highly-rated guided tour. From Art Deco to Victorian and Romanesque Revival, you’ll explore the various styles that fill the streets of our city. Tours are approx. 2 hours and cover 6 blocks. Free for members and $10 for the general public. Register
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Free Virtual Tours:
July Date TBD
Free In-person Tours:
Wed, June 21
Sat & Sun, June 24-25
From 12-2 p.m.
2520 2nd Street
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Come and visit the last intact shotgun house in Santa Monica! Discover the journey of this incredible little house, which was saved from demolition and moved–on wheels–three times before being adapted into our modern-day Center. Reservations are not required. Learn more
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Coming Out West:
LGBTQ+ Elders Share Their Stories
Santa Monica History Museum
June 1 – December 17, 2023
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Told through oral histories, images, art, and personal ephemera, visitors to the exhibition will experience a history of the LGBTQ+ community through the lens of people who shaped it. Presented in collaboration with The Outwords Archive, the exhibition features Jewel Thais-Williams, Chuck Williams, Judy Abdo, L. Frank, Terri de la Peña, Don Bachardy, Mia Yamamoto, and Marianne Diaz. Learn more
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31st Annual Juneteenth Celebration
Virginia Avenue Park
Saturday, June 17 from 1-7 p.m.
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Join the City of Santa Monica and the Juneteenth Celebration Committee, Inc. for an afternoon of music, unique food and craft vendors, and local resources to celebrate the 31st annual Juneteenth on Saturday, June 17th, from 1 to 7 pm in Virginia Avenue Park under the theme of Coming Together in Appreciation, Reconciliation, and Commemoration! Learn more
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We Thank Our Downtown Walking Tour Sponsor |
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Santa Monica Conservancy
310-496-3146
Stay connected!
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