Friday, October 18, 2019

Define Historic Preservation?


On the surface this sounds like a silly question. No one is proposing tearing down Independence Hall, the Old North Church, the California Missions or Casa Grande. Where I live in the Mother Lode, everyone would be appalled if historic Jackson or Sutter Creek were threatened. Nationally, there has been recent vandalism of statues of those judged politically incorrect by some. And, of course, the historic preservation movement has its lunatic fringe. But that’s human nature and says nothing substantive about historic preservation.

This article is not about political vandalism or the antics of fringe folks. But it is about soliciting opinion on an issue that has troubled me for years. Several decades ago, I was a consultant to the [then] Santa Monica Mountains Comprehensive Planning Commission. Governor Ronald Reagan approved the sale of the 20th Century Fox property, turning it into Malibu Creek State Park. This was to be the genesis of the much larger Santa Monica National Recreation Area which is now a national park service facility. While my consulting was limited to public transit, I did observe the facility’s evolution and have been troubled ever since.

It was decided to preserve remnants of Native American villages without, to my knowledge, any opposition. But the remains of movie sets, including a Chinese village from Steve McQueen’s The Sand Pebbles were destroyed. Certainly some would argue that these were temporary structures prone to quick decay. That danger is real, but how is this different from many other protected ruins? And perhaps the studio didn’t want us to see how they fake things. But I believe that movie making is part of our heritage just like Native American settlements and that the movie sets should have also been preserved. What do others think?

Endnote: The park’s website states under Historic Archeological Materials that their museum includes “…historic archeological material from historic sites related to ranching, homesteading, agriculture, space technology, filming and recreation.”  To what extent and with what commentary the movie sets are documented I have no idea.

Copyright 2019, Mark L. Bennett



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