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IM IN YR NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN, BOTANNIKIN YR NATIONAL GARDIN
Image by Chris Devers
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Quoting from Wikipedia | United States Botanic Garden:
The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) is a botanic garden on the grounds of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., near Garfield Circle.
The Botanic Garden is supervised by the Congress through the Architect of the Capitol, who is responsible for maintaining the grounds of the United States Capitol. The USBG is open every day of the year, including federal holidays. It is the oldest continually operating botanic garden in the United States.
History
The Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences in Washington, D.C., first suggested the creation of the Botanic Garden in 1816.[2][3] The idea of establishing a botanic garden in Washington, D.C., was also supported by the Washington Botanical Society, organized in 1817, many of whose members were also members of the Columbian Institute, however this society disbanded in 1826.[4]
In 1820, President James Monroe set aside 5 acres (20,000 m2) for a "national greenhouse." Dr. Edward Cutbush, founder and first president of the Columbian Institute, was one of the earliest crusaders for a plant repository and saw the necessity for a botanical garden "where various seeds and plants could be cultivated, and, as they multiplied, distributed to other parts of the Union."[5]
The tract, which was swamp land,[6] was located next to the Smithsonian Museum and a mere eighty feet from the steps of the Capitol.[5] The land was situated between First and Third streets and Pennsylvania and Maryland avenues[7] on the east side of the Capitol building.[8] It was originally owned by David Burnes, the Scots farmer who owned much of the site of the city of Washington. He had been warned in 1796 that if he chose to plant crops "on the avenue and the Mall", it was at his own risk as something might be done "almost any time" to make a thoroughfare.[9]
It is probable that Thomas Jefferson was the first influential person who took an interest in cleaning up the brush that covered the land. By 1810, some rows of Lombardy poplars had been planted, however, the avenue itself "was too much of a morass" to be traversed on horseback.[9]
Botanic Garden of the Columbian Institute
One of the greatest accomplishments of the institution was the creation of a botanic garden in 1821. "By the end of 1823 the swampy tract of land granted by Congress had been drained and leveled, an elliptical pond with an island at its center constructed, and four graveled walks laid out. Trees and shrubs were planted, and the garden was maintained as well as scanty funds would permit until the institute expired in 1837, one year before the termination of its charter."[4]
On May 26, 1824, the grounds were extended and in 1825, they were enclosed. "There seems to be no record of what improvements or plantings were made by the Columbian Institute. The institute had expended ,500 on the grounds for walks and plantings and had asked Congress to be reimbursed, but this request was not granted."[7]
Although the membership roster of the Columbian Institution included many distinguished citizens and several presidents, they were unable to raise money for the greenhouse and lecture hall.[10] Meetings were held in a variety of temporary offices, including a committee room in the capitol building that Congress granted use of on December 20, 1828.[11]
Despite all the hardships, the Institute quickly launched an enthusiastic effort to collect plants and seeds.[10] In 1826, a committee was appointed to meet with heads of government departments to help solicit "all subjects of natural history that may be deemed interesting" from foreign representatives. The following year, Secretary of the Treasury, Richard Rush was also involved in the solicitation by circulating a letter to foreign dignitaries."[10] In the letter he stated that President John Quincy Adams was "desirous of causing to be introduced into the United States all such trees and plants from other countries not heretofore known in the United States, as may give promise, under proper cultivation, of flourishing and becoming useful...."[10]
The publicity was extremely successful. Plants and seeds made their way to the Institute from as far away as China and Brazil. Some came from areas nearby, such as Montgomery County in Maryland. In 1824, a List of Plants in the Botanic Garden of the Columbian Institute was prepared by William Elliot.[10] The pamphlet mentioned more than 458 plants growing at that time.[7]
Sixteen years passed and by 1836, no further improvements had been made on the property. "The tract was a stagnant and malarial swamp and Congress was prevailed upon to make an appropriation of ,000 for improvements."[12] The funds were used to drain the site and erect a fountain.[9]
Financial woes continued to plague the Institute, and there was "never enough money from contributions for proper maintenance of the garden and plant collections."[10] The facility ceased to operate in 1837 when the society stopped holding meetings. However it was re-instituted in 1842 when the Wilkes expedition of the South Seas brought back a collection of plants.[13]
Wilkes exploring and surveying expedition
In 1838, Lt. Charles Wilkes set out on the United States Exploring Expedition commissioned by Congress[13] to circumnavigate the globe and explore the Pacific Ocean.[10] Between the years 1838–1842, the expedition, consisting of six government ships, traveled 87,000 miles[5] and collected a large assortment of horticultural and botanical specimens. These formed the nucleus of the present garden.[13] The expedition also confirmed that Antarctica was a continent.[5]
The staff included a botanist, W. D. Breckenridge who brought back a large collection of specimens, including seeds and cuttings.[12]
Because the garden was situated in a swamp, early attempts at cultivation were not successful, however, during 1842; a revival was made after the Wilkes Expedition brought many rare plants to Washington from the Fiji, Sandwich and Society Islands, New Zealand and South America.
During this trip, Wilkes collected live and dried specimens of plants and was one of the first to use wardian cases to maintain live plants on long voyages. Members of the expedition returned with a massive collection of plants previously unknown in the United States.
The dried specimens comprised the core of what is now the National Herbarium, an herbarium curated by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.
The live Wilkes specimens and seeds "were transferred successively to frames in 1844 and to the Old Patent Office greenhouse, the first building on the site, where they remained until 1850.[6] At that time, a botanic garden was built to house the collection in front of the Capitol, where the reflecting pool is now located. They were moved again in 1934.[6]
U.S. Botanic Garden
The very tract of land the Botanical Garden of the Columbian Institute occupied, became the site of the United States Botanic Garden, established in 1850, thirteen years after the demise of the institute.
In 1867, Congress provided money for the construction of the first greenhouses. The main conservatory building was erected, 30 feet long with a dome 60 feet high.[9]
Several historic trees stood on the site including the Crittenden Oak which marks the spot where John J. Crittenden made an address in an effort to avert the Civil War. Also, the Beck-Washington Elm was a scion of an elm earlier planted by Washington himself. A plane tree which Thaddeus Stevens brought from the Vale of Cashmere, a sycamore planted by Senator Daniel Voorhees and a Chinese oak from the grave of Confucius, two cedars of Lebanon, and several others that have historic associations.[9]
The Bartholdl Fountain, the work of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the same sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor stood in a central site in the gardens, however, it was placed in storage for several years to make way for the memorial to General Meade, the hero of Gettysburg.[9]
The garden "was formally placed under the jurisdiction of the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress in 1856 and has been administered through the Office of the Architect of the Capitol since 1934. The Architect of the Capitol has served as Acting Director of the United States Botanic Garden and is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the Garden and for any construction, changes, or improvements made."[14]
Talk of expansion and move
A discussion about moving the garden began in Congress in August, 1922. "It appears likely that the public features of the present garden will be transferred from the west side of the Capitol to the north side and that a new botanic garden and arboretum on an adequate scale will be established not far from the Capitol."[13]
The site of the original garden was fewer than 13 acres (53,000 m2), in comparison to the famous Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, which had 288 acres (1.17 km2). The garden in Berlin, Germany, has over 1,325 acres (5.36 km2) and was established at a cost of over ,000,000. In comparison, ,416,748 was spent on the garden in Washington between the years 1842–1922. This included the original appropriation for the Wilkes expedition.[13]
Senate resolution 165 was passed and a committee was formed to review the acquisition of a new site. Lieut. Col. Clarence O. Sherrill, Corps of Engineers, secretary and executive officer of the fine arts commission, compiled a report on the garden.[13]
It was felt that the botanic garden must be removed because when Congress established the location of the Grant Memorial in the garden-area, technically, it forced the garden out. "Such was the intention of Congress."[13]
The action was entirely logical. That space was designed by President George Washington and Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant as an open approach to the Capitol, which is shown on the original plan to the city. "It was proposed at that time that this area should be subject to ornamentation with memorials, foundations, and the like, but not shut off by walls and fences. Locating the Botanic Garden in this area was one of those serious mistakes made in the early part of the century whereby the great plan for the Nation's Capital suffered damage that has continued to this day."[13]
Sherrill's report pointed out that the goal of Congress was to restore the Mall to its original status as a park connection between the legislative and executive departments. Congress had paid the Pennsylvania Railroad ,500,000 to remove its tracks from the Mall. "The new National Museum Building, the Agriculture Department buildings, and the gallery for the Freer collections all have been located with reference in the general plan. Slowly, but steadily, changes in conformity with that plan are now being carried out throughout the entire 2½ miles from the Capitol Grounds to the Lincoln Memorial. The removal of the Botanic Garden is essential to the development of the great composition."[13]
"If Congress desires to continue a garden for the purpose of obtaining flowers for its members and for growing shrubs to disseminate throughout the country, both of these purposes can be subserved quite as well by glass houses and gardens in other accessible locations."[13]
It was also felt that the new location would provide enlargement of the Capitol Grounds on the north which affords an area for gardens of great beauty and distinction "through which will pass all visitors to Washington and a large proportion of those persons who daily go to the Capitol and Library of Congress."[13] The old location was seen as assessable to only "an insignificant fraction of visitors or residents" and that the removal of the garden from the west side of the Capitol to the north side made the features of the garden more available.[13]
An exhaustive search was made of several areas available for garden purposes and Mount Hamilton, a privately owned site, was chosen. The tract fronted the Anacostia River and carried a variety of soils in such condition that "very little preparation for the uses of a botanic garden would be needed and very little grading other than that required for roads."[13]
The tract had north, south, east and west slopes and a level area on Hickey Road that would work well for greenhouses and herbaceous gardens, while the other sloped areas would be ideal for shrub and small flowering-tree arboretum uses. The entire area contained about 400 acres (1.6 km2) and would "afford an entrance to Washington of unequaled beauty."[13]
In the future, it was felt that the garden could be expanded by "that portion of the park between the Pennsylvania Railroad and Benning Bridge contains about 563 acres, lowland and water, thus furnishing ample opportunity for expansion on land not subject to overflow for lowland and fresh-water exhibits."[13]
The Commission of Fine Art made recommendation that the Mount Hamilton tract be acquired for a national botanic garden and arboretum; by purchasing 400 acres (1.6 km2) of land, at least 800 acres (3.2 km2) of Government-owned lands will be made available. Also, a park entrance to the city from the north will be provided. Additionally, the public features of the "present" Botanic Garden be transferred from the west side of the Capitol to the north side to lands already owned by the Government.[13]
New location
In 1933, the main building was moved to its present location on the National Mall, just to the southwest of the Capitol, bordered by Maryland Avenue on the north, First Street on the east, Independence Avenue on the south, and Third Street on the west.[3] The facility includes a conservatory and 2 acres (8,100 m2) of outside grounds.[15] Directly across Independence Avenue is Bartholdi Park, an outdoor display area, and an administration building.[3][16] Located on 3 acres (12,000 m2) west of the conservatory and opened to the public on October 1, 2006, the National Garden provides living laboratories for environmental, horticultural, and botanical education.[17][18] The major features of the National Garden are the Rose Garden, the Butterfly Garden, the Lawn Terrace, the First Ladies' Water Garden, the Regional Garden, and an outdoor amphitheater.[17]
Plant production facility
A plant production facility in Anacostia, Washington, D.C., includes greenhouse bays and a support facility for the garden. The U.S. Botanic Garden Production Facility, covers 85,000 square feet (7,900 m2) under glass, and is the largest support facility for a botanic garden in the United States. It houses collections currently not on display, including plants recuperating. Seasonal plants are also grown at the facility for use in the Supreme Court, Library of Congress and for replenishing the Capitol grounds. An estimated 100,000 mums, pansies, cabbage, kale and other annuals and perennials per year are grown in the facility. Additionally, foliage plants for the Senate offices and palm trees for Capitol Hill events as well as special seasonal displays such as Easter lilies and poinsettias are all grown on site.[1] "According to staff botanists, there are about 50,000 plants on hand at the production facility at any one time.[1]
Current operation
Presently, the United States Botanic Garden is home to almost 10,000 living specimens, some of them over 165 years old.[5]
The national monument was closed for renovations on September 1, 1997, and reopened to the public on December 11, 2001. At the time of closure for renovation, plants in the collection were placed in storage at the USBG Production Facility, retired to greenhouses in Florida, or composted.
Facilities
The USBG proper consists of three locations: the Conservatory, Bartholdi Park, and the Production Facility.
The historic Lord & Burnham greenhouse, built by the Architect of the Capitol in 1933, contains eight garden rooms under glass, totaling 28,944 square feet (2,689.0 m2) of growing space. In 2001, the Conservatory re-opened after a four-year renovation that required it to be completely dismantled and rebuilt using 21st century building standards.[14] The Conservatory is divided into separate rooms, each simulating a unique habitat:
* The Garden Court
* Rare and Endangered Plants (rare species, endangered species)
* Plant Exploration
* Orchid House (orchids)
* Medicinal Plants (medicinal plants)
* Desert (desert species)
* Hawaii
* Garden Primeval (primeval)
* Plant Adaptation
* Jungle (jungle species; this is the largest of the rooms, and includes a second-story catwalk so that the jungle canopy may be observed from both below and above)
* Children's Garden (courtyard; features many thriving temperate annuals used to encourage interest in plants)
* Southern Exposure (courtyard),on the south side of the building, is surrounded by glass walls, receiving more warmth. It features many plants from the Southeast and Southwest, which would not be able to live in the colder District of Columbia climate if not for the microclimate
Except for the Hawaiian house, the galleries, and south lobby, none of the conservatory has air conditioning. Each room is closely monitored by a computer-operated sensors to maintain the environment best suited to the plants in that room. Humidity, sunlight and temperature are regulated by means of a misting system, retractable shades and levered windows. All plants are watered daily by hand. Construction was completed on the 3-acre (12,000 m2) National Garden on the Botanic Garden's west border, in October 2006 and the garden includes a regional garden of plants native to the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Piedmont, a rose garden, a butterfly garden, and the First Ladies Water Garden, a water garden in memory of the First Ladies of the United States.The National Garden construction was funded by the National Fund for the U.S. Botanic Garden which now exists as a 'friends group'.
Bartholdi Park lies just south of the Conservatory, across Independence Avenue. It is named for the Bartholdi Fountain in the garden's center designed by Frédéric Bartholdi. One of the goals of this garden is to provide inspiration and ideas for home gardeners who visit it. It displays a variety of small structured and non-structured gardens, and infuses color, shape, and planting themes. One section of the garden is certified as a National Wildlife Federation Backyard Wildlife Habitat. The Park also houses the administrative building for the United States Botanic Garden.
The Production Facility in southwest D.C. is used for growing and storing plants for propagation, for collection maintenance, or for display in upcoming annual shows.
The USBG participates in CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), which means that it cares for plants seized by Customs. It specializes in orchids and succulents.
Wilkes Plants
There are four plants in the garden that are believed to be directly related to the original Wilkes Expedition.
* The Vessel Fern (Angiopteris evecta) situated in the Jungle, is a fern believed to be the direct progeny of the Vessel Fern brought back on Wilkes' ship. Because of the lifespan of Vessel Ferns, it is highly unlikely that the present fern is the original; however it is believed that the present fern is a direct descendant and genetically identical to the original.
* The Ferocious Blue Cycad (Encephalartos horridus) is a cycad questionably one of the original Wilkes plants. Due to its size and possible age, some believe this plant to have come back with the expedition in 1842; unfortunately, early records are incomplete and inaccurate, so this is left to speculation.
* The Queen Sagos Cycas circinalis, which are cycads, live in the Garden Court. The Botanic Garden cares for both a male and a female of the species, and both were brought back with the Wilkes Expedition.
External links
* "United States Botanic Garden". Official website of the United States Botanic Garden, Washington, DC. www.usbg.gov/index.cfm. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
* "A Botanic Garden for the Nation: the United States Botanic Garden". United States Botanic Garden, Washington, DC. www.usbg.gov/history/A-Botanic-Garden-for-the-Nation-The-.... Retrieved 2010-07-08. Website contains a link to download a free electronic version of an illustrated 180 page book about the U.S. Botanic Garden (Botanic Garden for the Nation: the United States Botanic Garden. Publisher: Congress, Architect of the Capitol, United States Botanic Garden, 2007.)
* U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, Tanglewood Conservatory
* * * * *
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19c - Donovan & Seaman's Co - 743 S Broadway - Showroom
Image by Kansas Sebastian
West Adams Heights
“Nowadays we scarcely notice the high stone gates which mark the entrances on Hobart, Harvard, and Oxford streets, south of Washington Boulevard. For one thing, the traffic is too heavy, too swift; and then, again, the gates have been obscured by intrusions of shops and stores. At the base of the stone pillars appears the inscription “West Adams Heights.” There was a time when these entranceways were formidable and haughty, for they marked the ways to one of the first elite residential areas in Los Angeles. . . In the unplanned early-day chaos of Los Angeles, West Adams Heights was obviously something very special, an island in an ocean of bungalows—approachable, but withdrawn and reclusive—one of the few surviving examples of planned urban elegance of the turn of the century.”
- Carey McWilliams, “The Evolution of Sugar Hill,” Script, March, 1949: 30.
Today West Adams Heights is still obviously something special. The past sixty years, however, have not been kind. In 1963 the Santa Monica Freeway cut through the heart of West Adams Heights, dividing the neighborhood, obscuring its continuity. In the 1970’s the city paved over the red brick streets and removed the ornate street lighting. After the neighborhood’s zoning was changed to a higher density, overzealous developers claimed several mansions for apartment buildings. Despite these challenges, however, “The Heights,” as the area was once known, has managed to regain some of its former elegance.
The West Adams Heights tract was laid out in 1902, in what was then a wheat field on the western edge of town. Although the freeway now creates an artificial barrier, the original neighborhood boundaries were Adams Boulevard, La Salle Ave, Washington Boulevard, and Western Avenue. Costly improvements were integrated into the development, such as 75-food wide boulevards (which were some of the first contoured streets not to follow the city grid), lots elevated from the sidewalk, ornate street lighting, and large granite monuments with red-brass electroliers at the entrance to every street. These upgrades increased the lot values, which helped ensure the tract would be an enclave for the elite.
One early real estate ad characterized the neighborhood stating: “West Adams Heights needs no introduction to the public: it is already recognized as being far superior to any other tract. Its high and slightly location, its beautiful view of the city and mountains make t a property unequaled by any other in the city.”
The early residents’ were required to sign a detailed restrictive covenant. This hand-written document required property owners to build a “first-class residence,” of at least two stories, costing no less than two-thousand dollars (at a time when a respectable home could be built for a quarter of that amount, including the land), and built no less than thirty-five feet from the property’s primary boundary. Common in early twentieth century, another clause excluded residents from selling or leasing their properties to non-Caucasians.
By the mid 1930’s, however, most of the restrictions had expired. Between 1938 and 1945 many prominent African-Americans began to make “The Heights” their home. According to Carey McWilliams, West Adams Heights became known “Far and wide as the famous Sugar Hill section of Los Angeles,” and enjoyed a clear preeminence over Washington’s smart Le Droit Park, St. Louis’s Enright Street, West Philadelphia, Chicago’s Westchester, and Harlem’s fabulous Sugar Hill.
West Adams Heights, now also known as Sugar Hill, played a major role in the Civil Rights movement in Los Angeles. In 1938 Norman Houston, president of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, and an African-American, purchased a home at 2211 South Hobart Boulevard. Legal Action from eight homeowners quickly ensued. During that period, other prominent African-Americans began to make Sugar Hill their home – including actress Hattie McDaniels, dentists John and Vada Summerville, actress Louise Beavers, band leader Johnny Otis, and performers Pearl Baily and Ethel Waters, and many more. On December 6, 1945, the “Sugar Hill Cases” were heard before Judge Thurmond Clark, in LA Superior Court. He made history by become the first judge in America to use the 14th Amendment to disallow the enforcement of covenant race restrictions. The Los Angeles Sentinel quoted Judge Clark: “This court is of the opinion that it is time that [African-Americans] are accorded, without reservations and evasions, the full rights guaranteed them under the 14th Amendment.” Gradually, over the last century people of nearly ever background have made historic West Adams their home.
The northern end of West Adams Heights is now protected as part of the Harvard Heights Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ). The Historic West Adams area of Los Angeles (which includes West Adams Heights) boasts the highest concentration of turn-of-the-century homes west of the Mississippi, as well as the highest concentration of National Historic Landmarks, National Register of Historic Places, National Historic Districts, State Historic Landmarks, Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Monuments, and Historic Preservation Overlay Zones in the city. The entirety of West Adams Heights should be nominated as a National Register Historic District, for the quality of homes, the prominence of the architects, notoriety of the people who lived in the neighborhood, and the role it played in civil rights.
Perhaps a quote adapted from a fireplace mantle in the Frederick Rindge mansion best symbolizes the optimism which exists in West Adams: “California Shall be Ours as Long as the Stars Remain.”
19 – James G & Rose Ganahl Donovan Residence – 2179 W 20th St, Moved from 2202 S Western Ave – 1903 – Robert Brown Young
(Now located in Western Heights Historic Preservation Overlay Zone & 20th Street Historic District, National Register Historic District No. 91000915)
James Donovan began as an apprentice to a watch maker in Aurora, IL, working his way up to Lead Mechanic and an eventual partner in the company, before branching into jewelry on his own. Accompanied by his sister in 1894 he came to Los Angeles for a month’s long vacation. At the end he decided to stay one more week – then three more months – and then founded to stay. He began Donovan & Seaman’s Co on Spring St, near Temple, when it was the heart of the LA’s shopping district. He later moved the store to 3rd & Spring St, then 7th & Broadway. When he built his residence, he chose a prominent location, placing it directly in front of the Berkeley Square gates, on the southeast corner of Western Ave and 22nd St. The home was designed by R B Young in a Transitional Victorian/Craftsman style, leaning more toward the Victorian. Young was a prolific architect in Los Angeles, designing many homes and office buildings, including the Vickery-Brunswig Building, San Fernando Building and Clifton’s Brookdale. The house was moved to its present location in 1929 as Western Ave transitioned to a commercial thoroughfare and the street was widened.
20 – Paul W Hoffmann Residence – 1926 S Western Ave – 1904
Charles Albert Rockwell was a partner in the building firm Martin & Rockwell, and through his company built several houses in West Adams Heights, on Western Avenue, including: 1926, 1962 and 2020 S Western Ave. He himself lived at 1962 S Western Ave before moving down the street to 2020 S Western Ave. This Transitional Craftsman/Victorian house he sold to Paul Hoffmann, dealing in loans and real estate. While most of the houses along the commercial corridors have vanished, this house and a few others, have managed to survive mostly intact.
21 – Ellis Doughl and Alphonso Barmann Residence – 1934 S Western Ave – 1905
A 1905 property permit to the building firm Pool & Jones suggests this is one of the few properties in West Adams Heights built on spec (speculation of a perspective buyer). The home was purchased by Ellis Doughl – who may or may not have lived on the property. In 1911 Newton H Foster, a junior clerk for the Santa Fe, appears to be renting the property, and in 1912 the property is sold to F Barmann for ,500. The 1915 City Directory shows Alphonso (Gen Contr), Herbert (Mach), Natalie (Tchr) and Walter (Mach) Barmann at the property. They had moved from their house on the other side of the Heights at 2047 La Salle Ave. Alphanso Barmann was given the general contract for construction of the 10 story Higgins Building in 1909. The house is Transitional Craftsman/Victorian with strong Colonial influences.
22 – Hans B & Ethyleen Nielsen Residence – 2010 S Western Ave – 1911
Built in the “Elizabethan Style” common at the time, this large Transitional Craftsman/Victorian incorporates half timbering and pebble-dash stucco into the design. It appears to have been built for Hans B and Ethyleen Nielsen.
23 – The Santa Monica Freeway – 21st to 22nd Streets – Originally called the Olympic Freeway – 1964
Like a river cutting through the heart of West Adams Heights, the Olympic Freeway as it was first called claimed approximately one-third of the homes, and some of the most significant. The entire block between 21st and 22nd Streets, on Western, Harvard, Hobart and LaSalle were demolished for the project. The prestigious “Harvard Circle” part of West Adams Heights was completely wiped off the map, with only vague and cryptic references left in newspapers and books. This canyon creates a permanent barrier in a once cohesive neighborhood. Plans for the Olympic Freeway were laid out in the 1947, coincidentally occurring a year after racial covenants were determined to be illegal and African-Americans gained the rights to live in the neighborhood. For almost 20 years, until the freeway’s completion in 1964, black leaders called on the city and the State of California to move the path of the freeway to Washington, Venice or Pico, to spare West Adams Heights, or Sugar Hill as it was becoming known. However, the commission overseeing the project ignored them. Even Mayor Bowron participated in efforts to spare Berkeley Square and West Adams Heights, but members of the commission were unmoved. In the early 1960’s the construction equipment arrived, the houses were removed, and one of LA’s most prestigious enclaves was divided.
24 – Kate A Kelley Residence – 2205 S Hobart Blvd – 1905 – Sumner P Hunt and Arthur Wesley Eager
The architecture team of Hunt & Eager designed this home for Kate A Kelley, the widow of John Kelley. She lived there with her sister Jennie MacKay. By 1915 the house was owned by Abram C Denman, Jr., th vice president and general manager of the Southern California Iron and Steele Company. As a boarding house run by the Agape Mission, the house has fallen on hard times, with stucco, an enclosed porch and aluminum windows. But with some time, money and love, the house could be restored.
25 – John & Gertrude D Kahn and Norman O & Edythe Houston Residence – 2211 S Hobart Blvd – 1911 – Milwaukee Building Company
The Kahn-Houston Residence is arguably one of the most important houses in West Adams Heights. It deserves to be a National Register of Historic places. Unfortunately, at this time (2014) its fate is uncertain. The Agape Mission, which has run an illegal boarding house from the property and from 2205 S Hobart, has recently been closed and both properties appear to be in receivership. This house is so important to the historic fabric of the community because it was the home of Norman O Houston, President of the Golden State Mutual – an insurance company for black Americans who could not obtain insurance from white-owned companies at an affordable price. See the Wikipedia article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_O._Houston In 1938 Houston (then Vice-President) purchased the home. Wealthy white owners of the neighborhood prevented him from living in his home by re-establishing the “West Adams Heights Improvement Association,” and attempting to codify the rule preventing non-Caucasians from owning or renting property. In 1945 Norman Houston and the other black property owners won the right in court to legally live in the neighborhood. The house had been originally built for John Kahn, an early pioneer to Los Angeles who first came to Oakland, CA, around 1889 with his brother and opened a dry goods store. John moved to Los Angeles 3 years later and opened a large store in the ground floor of the Nadeau Hotel at 1st & Spring. Around 1897 he sold the enterprise and in 1899 incorporated with Jakob Beck to form Kahn-Beck, manufacturing food stuff, including: “All kinds of candy, macaroni and pastas of all kinds.” The company then grew into one of the largest biscuit making companies as the Kahn-Beck Cracker Company, or Kahn Beck Biscuit Company, and Angelus Biscuit Company. John Kahn passed in 1919. The house built in 1911 by the Milwaukee Building Company is in an avant-garde Spanish/Prairie style.
26 – James D & May C Smith and Louise Beavers-Moore & LeRoy C Moore Residence – 2219 S Hobart Blvd – 1904 – Frank M Tyler
For his first home in West Adams Heights, pioneer real estate developer Richard D Richards commissioned Frank M Tyler to build a 16-room English-styled mansion in 1904. Richards sold the property to James D Smith two years later, moving to another Tyler mansion at 2237 S Hobart Blvd and then to 2208 S Western Ave, where the Richards family lived until 1925. James Smith was proprietor of the James Smith & Co, a clothing store of the finest “ready-made” Franklin Brand clothing for men, established in 1902. For years the company operated from the Bryson Block, before relocating to the more fashionable Broadway. In the early 1940’s Louise Beavers joined Norman Houston (2211 S Hobart Ave) and Hattie McDaniel (2203 S Harvard Blvd) in the Heights. Louise Beavers was a talented actress, acclaimed for her role in Imitation of Life as Delilah. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Beavers Louise was married to her second husband, LeRoy C Moore in 1952. LeRoy was a well-known interior decorator. Together the two lived at this house until Louise’s death in October, 1962, and LeRoy’s death four months later in February, 1963. At first glass the Smith-Beavers Residence appears to be completely remodeled, but comparing it to original renderings little has changed. The front left dormer is missing and at some point someone thought it would be a good idea to cover the house in Sears siding (the original siding is probably underneath). But other than having been divided, the house’s integrity remains intact.
27 – Ellen H (Mrs. Melville Morton) Johnston and Curtis & Ellen Williams Residence (Demolished) – 2237 S Hobart Blvd – 1906 – Frank M Tyler
The second residence in West Adams Heights built for Richard D and Cynthia J Richards, in 1906, has been replaced with a 1950’s apartment building. The first Richards home was located at 2219 S Hobart Blvd (the Smith-Beavers Residence). They lived at this house less than two years before relocating to 2208 S Western Ave, where the couple lived out their lives. This home was sold to Ellen H Johnston (Mrs Melville Morton). Melville Morton Johnston may have died April 3, 1892. If I’ve researched the correct person, he was originally from Clifton, Stanton Island, New York. (I mean, how many men named Melville Morton Johnston can there be? Right?) In 1911 Mrs. Johnson sold the house to Curtis Williams. Curtis died at the home in 1959, at the age of 89. Curtis Williams was a pioneering lumberman who came to Los Angeles in 1895. He was born in Oakland and reared in San Diego. He was an early member of the Los Angeles Country Club, the Jonathan Club, and University Club. The house was a rustic Transitional Victorian/Craftsman, having both elements, designed by Frank M. Tyler. It was a perfectly balanced house, whose presence looks more like it would have been designed by John Austin.
28 – Benjamin Johnson Residence – 2241 S Hobart Blvd – 1909 – G A Howard, Jr.
In 1909 Benjamin Johnson commissioned G A Howard to build this charming Transitional Craftsman/Victorian in an English Style. The cost in 1909 was a mere ,000. As president of the Los Angeles Public Market Co (a company owned by Pacific Electric), he could well afford the cost – as well as a domestic, cook and chauffeur. What he could not afford, however, was a scandal involving his under-aged rebel daughter Estelle. In 1914, on a return trip from finishing school in Washington, DC, after a brief visit to her grandfather in Chicago. For eluded reasons, she was hastily married to Mr. Terrance Ryan. To employ his new son-in-law, Mr. Johnson purchased a produce company and gave Mr. Ryan a position and a promise of a bungalow. This appears not to have been enough, and the Johnsons were forced to petition the courts for the divorce of their daughter and Mr. Ryan on grounds he could not provide. The Johnsons must have been scandalized when the entire affair was laid out in the Los Angeles Times society pages.
29 – John Newton & Annie Berdella Evans Russell Jr. Residence – 2263 S Hobart Blvd – 1906
Above the portico of this residence is the address “2249” S Hobart Blvd, however its legal address (according to the tax assessor’s maps) is actually 2263 S Hobart. The confusion is understandable. The property sits on three lots from what would have been 2249 (where the house actually sits) to the actual address of 2263 (which is the furthest lot south from the house). At this time the architect is unknown, but shows the adept hand of someone like Robert D. Farquar, who designed the John and Dora Haynes mansion on Figueroa in a similar style (demolished), or B. Cooper Corbett, responsible for the magnificent Denker Mansion on Adams Blvd. The house is an Italian Villa, in a Florentine style, years before the practice of designing thematic houses became popular in Los Angeles. This was the home of John Newton Russell, Jr., an insurance man. He was raised mostly in Waco, TX, before moving to Los Angeles with his father, also in the insurance business. Russell ran the Colorado branches of the Frederick Rindge’s Conservative Life Company, before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. When the company was absorbed into Pacific Mutual, and moved to Los Angeles, Russell was recalled from Colorado to run the “Home Office.” Mr. Russell continued his success in the insurance industry, just as his wife enjoyed great social success. In 1942, their son, John Henry Russell, established the John Newton Russell Memorial Award, as a tribute to his father and mentor, recognizing the accomplishments and contributions of made by an individual in the insurance industry. This is the highest honor awarded by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), given each year. NAIFA is one of the nation’s oldest and largest associations representing professionals in the insurance and financial industries.
waiting for god
Image by LHG Creative Photography
About time I did something that held a bit more poignant meaning.
My father, once a proud man and still very much a gentleman, he worked for 50 years of his life until illness prevented any further working, and thank god it did, because the mind would not have lasted even if the body had. He served queen and country, he survived two dreadful wives, and taught me all I know about honour, decency, friendship and respect. In this, his octagenarian year, life should have more reward than this.
His wives and his work assaulted his mind, drained his strength, the government regulations crippled his business as a publican, in particular his second wife, a foul bitch who frankly deserves to die, stole his money while he lay ill in bed from multiple strokes. Made diabetic by incompetant drug use from the NHS, he cannot even enjoy the simple gastronomic pleasures in life.He above all other men I know has been blamed for the small flaws and fragilities that we all have, and his sins paled into insignificance compared to those who opposed him, who accuse him. He just wanted to live in peace and love and in reasonable comfort with a little pride. Some people however, cannot allow any pride in others. He is a good man, and no weaker than I, thats for sure. He deserved better.
For all our posturing, our pontificating, our youthful glamour, our selfish dreams, our ideals and our self righteous work ethics, is this all it comes down to? Living in a small room full of junk watching your own brain cells turn to cheese from endless hours of pointless television, the only real company that many old people have.
This is modern england, and we don't know how to truly take care of our old folks. Those who raised us, those who taught us everything worth knowing. Those who loved us in principle,and actuality, who guarded us with their lives.
We struggle to live so much, taxed to death, regulated to distraction, multitasked to insanity, even those who do care are not financially able to contribute. It shames us all.
England is a hollow place, why anyone would want to actually come to live here is beyond me. This is why I am not a patriot, not a lover of this country, because for most of us, those who are not wealthy, who are not lucky, who made perhaps only simple and common mistakes in life, this is the fate that awaits. Loneliness, regrets, the blinding self apparence and daily plague of ones own weaknesses and illnesses, and eventually a loveless life spent watching the world turn to shit through the eyes of the media. If you think the world alienates you in your teens, your twenties, your thirties or your forties, imagine how people in their 80's feel.
Disconnected alone, desperate. The peace of solitude is often the only consolation they have, and then only because its better than being assaulted through cold callers, fraudulent mail, hawkers, con artists and bloody yobbos disturbing their peace with fuckawful music, and that great fear for them all, the housebreaker who beats and rapes old grannies and grandads, (the death sentance for that surely?) .
Their pensions are an insult, their lives difficult, and eventually the fear of being dehumanised in nursing homes is never far away. Then they have to face something that few do in their youth, the fear of death coming for them. They feel it in their minds and in their veins.
This is not the paranoia of youth but their daily struggle to live. Imagine pain whenever to have to shit or piss, every time you bend over, every time you cough, every time you eat, every step you walk, every sleep interrupted with discomfort, every day with a headache, every waking morning with palpitations. Tiredness so thorough that only the dead know better about it. To be a virtual prisoner in your own home, dire as it is.
Could you cope with that when there is no joy, no love, to take your mind from such things?
We should endevour to make what time they have left a comfortable joy full of magic moments, of pleasant emotion, to help them tick off the dreams and sights of lifetimes so that they go to the grave having felt loved and that they have lived, but we fail.
Literally waiting for god with a fear of death, but little will to live.
Every day I feel the same destiny coming for me, except perhaps that I am less loved , less honourable, less powerful, less free, less of a man. He at least has a witness to his life, mine wil probably pass like so many others, completely unremarked, with no warning to others.
This is the future we are carving for ourselves. We are failing our elders, and we will fail ourselves. My only consolation is that I have never loved life enough to fear death, and perhaps that is the shield I have against further sufferring.
So then, I am like the antelope that decides to lie down before the lion, who will not run, the one who feels nothing, who will not care when the jaws close around his throat. But that doesnt mean I don't want to help those who do fear death, who do want to live. That I have no resource to help is just another regret I will hold when the jaws close.
Are we all content to be this way?
Where is the joy of old age? What are we working for, what are we voting for? This? This is reality, grand homes, holidays, palm trees, successions of beautiful lovers, no worries about money or health, the capitalist dream, this happens for less than three percent of the entire population of england, and for less than a fraction of one percent of the rest of the world.
You don't get to keep what you work for. For nearly all of us this destiny is the one that awaits us, small dirty rooms, loneliness, bereavement, fear, and sickness. When are we going to do something socially that works for our futures? For those of us that live our lives in debt , in poverty, the life that awaits our final years could be worse. Inheritance tax ensures no family homes will be passed on, and the wealth of families is exterminated and wasted on government administration, frittered away on millenium domes or whatever dumb idea comes next. Rents, loans, buy to rent this is loss culture, its always at the expense of someones life. An englishmans home was his castle because you need that layer of defence. You needed that reservoir of wealth to ensure your late life isnt just sufferring.
What in hells teeth are we allowing to be done to us?
Qtpfsgui 1.9.3 tonemapping
Georgia Guidestones
Image by The Rocketeer
Written on the Georgia Guidestones are these ten desires of the New World Order:
THE MESSAGE OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES
1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.
10.Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature.
On one of the highest hilltops in Elbert County, Georgia stands a huge granite monument. Engraved in eight different languages on the four giant stones that support the common capstone are 10 Guides, or commandments. That monument is alternately referred to as The Georgia Guidestones, or the American Stonehenge. Though relatively unknown to most people, it is an important link to the Occult Hierarchy that dominates the world in which we live.
The origin of that strange monument is shrouded in mystery because no one knows the true identity of the man, or men, who commissioned its construction. All that is known for certain is that in June 1979, a well-dressed, articulate stranger visited the office of the Elberton Granite Finishing Company and announced that he wanted to build an edifice to transmit a message to mankind. He identified himself as R. C. Christian, but it soon became apparent that was not his real name. He said that he represented a group of men who wanted to offer direction to humanity, but to date, almost two decades later, no one knows who R. C. Christian really was, or the names of those he represented. Several things are apparent. The messages engraved on the Georgia Guidestones deal with four major fields: (1) Governance and the establishment of a world government, (2) Population and reproduction control, (3) The environment and man's relationship to nature, and (4) Spirituality.
In the public library in Elberton, I found a book written by the man who called himself R.C. Christian. I discovered that the monument he commissioned had been erected in recognition of Thomas Paine and the occult philosophy he espoused. Indeed, the Georgia Guidestones are used for occult ceremonies and mystic celebrations to this very day. Tragically, only one religious leader in the area had the courage to speak out against the American Stonehenge, and he has recently relocated his ministry.
Limiting the population of the earth to 500 million will require the extermination of nine-tenths of the world's people. The American Stonehenge's reference to establishing a world court foreshadows the current move to create an International Criminal Court and a world government. The Guidestones' emphasis on preserving nature anticipates the environmental movement of the 1990s, and the reference to "seeking harmony with the infinite" reflects the current effort to replace Judeo-Christian beliefs with a new spirituality.
The message of the American Stonehenge also foreshadowed the current drive for Sustainable Development. Any time you hear the phrase "Sustainable Development" used, you should substitute the term "socialism" to be able to understand what is intended. Later in this syllabus you will read the full text of the Earth Charter which was compiled under the direction of Mikhail Gorbachev and Maurice Strong. In that document you will find an emphasis on the same basic issues: control of reproduction, world governance, the importance of nature and the environment, and a new spirituality. The similarity between the ideas engraved on the Georgia Guidestones and those espoused in the Earth Charter reflect the common origins of both.
Yoko Ono, the widow of John Lennon, was recently quoted as referring to the American Stonehenge, saying:
"I want people to know about the stones ... We're headed toward a world where we might blow ourselves up and maybe the globe will not exist ... it's a nice time to reaffirm ourselves, knowing all the beautiful things that are in this country and the Georgia Stones symbolize that. " (1)
What is the true significance of the American Stonehenge, and why is its covert message important? Because it confirms the fact that there was a covert group intent on
(1) Dramatically reducing the population of the world.
(2) Promoting environmentalism.
(3) Establishing a world government.
(4) Promoting a new spirituality.
Certainly the group that commissioned the Georgia Guidestones is one of many similar groups working together toward a New World Order, a new world economic system, and a new world spirituality. Behind those groups, however, are dark spiritual forces. Without understanding the nature of those dark forces it is impossible to understand the unfolding of world events.
The fact that most Americans have never heard of the Georgia Guidestones or their message to humanity reflects the degree of control that exists today over what the American people think. We ignore that message at our peril.
This text courtesy of www.radioliberty.com/stones.htm
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