For Release: March 28, 2011

Contact: Cindy Olnick
colnick@laconservancy.org
(213) 430-4214

Los Angeles Conservancy Announces 30th Annual Preservation Awards
Awards to be presented at luncheon on Thursday, May 12

LOS ANGELES, March 28, 2011 – The Los Angeles Conservancy has announced the recipients of its 30th Annual Preservation Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in the field of historic preservation. As always, a competitive pool of applicants yielded a wide range of recipients reflecting the diversity of efforts to preserve L.A. County’s architectural heritage. The nine award recipients are listed below, with links to more information on the Conservancy's website.

PRESIDENT’S AWARD (bestowed by the president of the Conservancy's board of directors for special achievement)
Community Redevelopment Agency,
City of Los Angeles
In more than fifty projects, CRA/LA has used historic preservation as a tool for economic development and neighborhood revitalization. Its commitment to reusing historic structures—and promoting historic preservation—has enriched the lives of countless Angelenos while honoring our cultural heritage.

MEDIA AWARD
Mad Men
The award-winning drama and cultural phenomenon fueled an explosion of interest in all things 1960s, including architecture, bolstering efforts to save Greater L.A.’s rich, yet highly vulnerable, legacy of sixties resources.

PROJECT AWARDS
Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park, Lancaster
A unique and fragile historic site in the high desert received much-needed structural strengthening and environmental upgrades using highly innovative techniques, demonstrating creative preservation at its best and strong stewardship by a state agency.

Murray Burns / The Preservation of Angelino Heights, Los Angeles
One man devoted his life to revitalizing one of the city’s first suburban neighborhoods—protecting, preserving, and meticulously restoring nearly thirty historic homes, creating a network of historic district leaders, and inspiring others to follow their passion for preservation.

City of Los Angeles 2010 HPOZ Preservation Plan Program
A city department facing a budget crisis took ambitious, proactive measures to protect its program for preserving historic neighborhoods, providing clear guidelines for sixteen historic districts while streamlining the process to foster future district designation.

Downtown Women’s Center, Los Angeles
A former shoe factory—developed by a woman in the 1920s—was transformed into an elegant, LEED-certified haven for women in need, providing permanent housing, supportive services, and a bright future for the building and its occupants.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 1913 Building Seismic Rehabilitation
After nearly a century, a major local landmark and cultural destination was strengthened using cutting-edge technology, in a remarkable project that also restored the building’s spectacular historic features.

Security First National Bank of Los Angeles / Comerica Bank, South Pasadena
After years of excessive alteration and underuse, the proverbial “bank on the corner” was rescued and rediscovered thanks to strong collaboration between the property owner, tenant, city, and community.

The Villa Riviera, Long Beach
One of the most recognizable landmarks in Long Beach received its first major restoration since it opened in 1929, with the steadfast commitment of its homeowners association and a massive feat of meticulous repair, restoration, and replication of missing elements.

The awards will be presented at a luncheon on Thursday, May 12 sponsored by City National Bank at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. With a reputation as one of the most inspirational awards programs in Los Angeles, the luncheon is a truly special event that shares remarkable preservation stories with approximately 600 business and community leaders.

The Conservancy's Preservation Awards are selected by an independent jury of leading experts in architecture, historic preservation, and community development. The 2011 jury included:

Chair: Glen Dake, Landscape Architect, gdml
Shannon Davis, M.A., Architectural Historian & Historian, ASM Affiliates
Katie E. Horak, Architectural Historian, Architectural Resources Group, Inc.
Karin Liljegren, AIA, Principal, omgivning
Andrew Meieran, Entrepreneur & Proprietor, The Edison and Clifton’s

For more information, visit http://www.laconservancy.org/awards/2011.php4

The Los Angeles Conservancy is a nonprofit membership organization that works through education and advocacy to recognize, preserve, and revitalize the historic architectural and cultural resources of Los Angeles County. What began as a volunteer group in 1978 now has more than 6,000 members, making the Conservancy the largest local organization of its kind in the U.S.

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