Use CEQA to Protect Your Community This guide explains how you can use the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to protect historic places in your community. Many people have seen the destruction of historic neighborhoods and sites without knowing that their voice could have made a difference. You have a say in how your community changes over time. CEQA is is a state law that gives you the right to know about development projects in your neighborhood and how they affect your community. It gives you a voice in the process and tools to help you protect important places, your quality of life, and the future of your neighborhood. The guide explains more about how you can use CEQA and includes case studies describing how others have used it in different ways to prevent demolition of significant sites. You can download the guide below as a PDF in English or Spanish. We hope you find it helpful.

With nearly 800 campuses and a geographic span of over 700 square miles, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second-largest public school system in the United States. Since its founding in 1872, the district has commissioned, designed, and acquired a remarkable collection of buildings, campuses, and facilities. They range from small nineteenth-century […]

Don Gibbs, architect (active from 1961-present) Donald Gibbs, FAIA is the son of architect Hugh Gibbs FAIA who opened his office, Gibbs and Miller, in 1934. After studying Architecture at USC, working with several other firms, and completing a stint in the Navy, Don joined his father in the practice in 1960, and became a […]

In recent years, challenging questions around why saving historic places matters have become hot topic issues. Why do we save historic places, and for whom? Who decides what’s worth saving? And, perhaps the biggest question of all: Can preserving cultural heritage help foster healthy communities? In 2020, a bold new podcast from the University of Southern […]

Eric Owen Moss is widely recognized for his visionary designs around the world...

Gregory Ain was as much a social activist as a visionary architect. Ain’s designs were fueled by the belief that Modern architecture could improve people’s lives.

Technology played a huge role in virtually every example of Modern architecture in Los Angeles. Postwar L.A. was the right place and the right time for new technologies to usher in a wave of experimentation and innovation in terms of building design, construction, engineering, materials, and purpose. The war had brought a number of high-tech […]

Like the Conservancy itself, the Modern Committee began as a small group of passionate and concerned citizens and, over time, grew into a powerful voice for preservation in Los Angeles. The Modern Committee started life as the Fifties Task Force, a volunteer subcommittee of the Conservancy formed in 1984 in response to the rapid destruction […]