The Los Angeles City Council postponed a motion Wednesday that seeks to initiate the process of designating five properties, representing some of the city’s African American history, as historical-cultural monuments.
Council members agreed to hold the motion until their next meeting Friday. If approved, it would instruct the Department of City Planning to prepare applications for review and consideration by the Cultural Heritage Commission.
The properties are located in Council Districts 7, 8, 9, and 10, which encompass the northeast San Fernando Valley, Central and South Los Angeles.
Last year, Councilwoman Heather Hutt, who represents the 10th District, co-introduced the motion with Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who represents the Seventh District. Councilmen Marqueece-Harris Dawson and Curren Price, who represent the Eighth and Ninth Districts, respectively, seconded the proposal.
The council members aim to highlight the “diversity and richness” of the African American experience in the city, and increase the number of city landmarks that uplift African American history.
There are approximately 1,290 landmarks in the city, and only about 4% of those reflect associations with the African American community, officials said.
To rectify the inequity, the Planning Department’s Office of Historic Resources launched African American Historic Places, Los Angeles, a multi-year partnership with the Getty Conservation Institute.
AAHPLA’s work is intended to expand the city’s historic preservation framework for African American history, develop cultural preservation strategies for the city’s three historically African American neighborhoods, and advance representation in the preservation field.
As part of the project, a 15-member advisory committee identified the following five locations and recommended the buildings be included as historical-cultural landmarks:
— Tom and Ethel Bradley Residence at 3807 Welland Ave. in the 10th District, the home of the late Tom Bradley, the first Black mayor of Los Angeles, who served in the office for 20 years.
— Jewel’s Catch One at 4067 W. Pico Blvd., in the 10th District, one of the first Black-owned LGBTQ+ dance clubs in the nation, founded by Jewel Thais-Williams in 1972.
— California Eagle Office at 4071-4075 S. Central Ave., in the Ninth District, was home to the California Eagle, the oldest African American newspaper in the city, and founded by publisher Charlotta Bass, who is believed to be the first African American women to own and operate a newspaper in the United States.
— First African Methodist Episcopal Church at 2270 S. Harvard Blvd., in the Eighth District, was designed by famed Black architect Paul R. Williams, and founded in 1872 by Bridget Mason, a former enslaved women who sued for her freedom and later garnered wealth through real estate.
— StylesVille Beauty & Barbershop at 13161 Van Nuys Blvd. in Pacoima, in the Seventh District, one of the oldest Black barbershops and beauty salons in the San Fernando Valley.