Class on Watts Towers

Grandma Prisbrey, Frank Lloyd Wright, Simon Rodia: Winners or Losers
on the Road to Historic Preservation?
E7080A
Otis School of Art and Design
9045 Lincoln Blvd.
Goldsmith Campus, Westchester, CA 90045
February 20, 1999
Class hours: Sat 9:30am - 12:30pm
I session: non credit only  Fees: $45
Instructors: Arloa Paquin Goldstone & Bud Goldstone
Otis College of Art and Design

Join Arloa and Bud Goldstone as they guide you through the
fascinating and quirky history of Watts Towers, one of Los Angeles'
best known, but misunderstood, landmarks.  Learn what may have
motivated Rodia to build his structures, his unprecedented building
techniques and how the successful preservation battle was won so
that the Towers will remain part of the variegated cultural fabric
of Los Angeles.  By comparing the preservation efforts of two of
Southern California's other cultural and artistic landmarks,
students explore the many unanticipated pitfalls which can be
encountered when attempting to save even the most highly regarded
landmark or work of art.  And, how the Towers somehow managed to
miraculously survive the wrecking ball and remain on the Los Angeles
landscape. The instructors share their over forty combined years of
experience and personal histories with the Towers and Simon Rodia
before his death in 1965.  The lecture is illustrated with the
instructors' personal collection of historic photographs, videos,
and audio tapes of Rodia before his death.

Arloa Paquin Goldstone and Bud Goldstone are the authors of the  J.
Paul Getty Museum's internationally successful book, The Los
Angeles-Watts Towers.  Bud Goldstone is the designer of the
successful load test, which proved that the Towers were structurally
sound and was a member of the committee, which was formed to save
them.  He is a graduate of Purdue University with a degree in
aeronautical engineering.  After his 25 year career in the aerospace
industry he has worked as a consulting conservation engineer for the
Cultural Affairs Department of the City of Los Angeles, the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art. Conservation Center, the Getty
Conservation Institute, and most recently, for the owner of Las
Pozas, a privately owned collection of environmental sculptures in
Xilitla, Mexico.

Arloa Goldstone is the author of the proposal, which won National
Historic Landmark status for the Towers in 1991.  She is a graduate
of the University of Colorado with a degree in geography.  She has
been active in historic preservation issues throughout her 25-year
stay in Southern California.

N. J. Bud Goldstone, conservation engineer

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:50
                 Distributed: Tuesday, December 8, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-12-50-019
                                  ***