(Abandoned military bunker; Flickr pic by Eyetwist.)
It’s hard to argue against building new schools… yet the Los Angeles Unified School District continues to destroy old L.A. landmarks in the process. The recent victims have been heartbreaking — the Ambassador Hotel, of course, on the top of that list.
Next up: The Los Angeles Times reports that the LAUSD plans to tear down historic buildings on the site that was once San Pedro’s Ft. MacArthur:
When the bulldozers come to Ft. MacArthur next spring, Joe Janesic will take it personally.
For more than two decades, the 40-year-old has been a mainstay of the historic military site in San Pedro that was built in 1914 and served as an Army post until 1974. He organizes events, conducts tours, handles media and even restores vintage phones — all as a volunteer. A founding member of the Ft. MacArthur Museum, he has dedicated his life to preserving every relic on the grounds.
“The buildings here were unique because of the time they were built and the methods they used — old construction techniques that don’t exist anymore,” Janesic said excitedly one rainy Sunday as he pointed to a map outlining the area. “The look, feel and smell of the tactile structures — you can’t reproduce that.”
So if one day the row of beige military barracks where Army reserves once slept is mowed over, if the dilapidated mess hall where tens of thousands of soldiers once ate is destroyed, if the Quonset hut that housed olive drab trucks and jeeps is demolished — Janesic will be just as devastated as the buildings.
The Los Angeles Unified School District has plans for the land, which it has owned since 1979 when the military turned it over to the school system for educational use. The district plans to raze the structures for what is referred to as South Region High School No. 15. The 47 acres may soon be a 128,000-square-foot annex to San Pedro High School that will include the marine science and police academy magnets.
