Editor's Note: If you support retaining the Southwest Museum as a a living museum, you can help by going to the Friends of the Southwest Museum's website and joining their email and fax campaign.
Of all the dozens of city issues I've learned a lot about in the last year or so, the one that befuddles me the most is the Battle of the Museums -- Autry vs. Southwest.
As things stand, we have a really mediocre facility in the Autry in Griffith Park and a rundown facility in the Mt. Washingon/Glassell Park area that represents the oldest museum in LA, a landmark on the Eastside.
For all I've paid attention to the arguments on both sides, I can't understand why we can't have two wonderful museums dedicated to the artifacts and history of the Old West. The Southwest Museum's vast collection -- now owned by the Autry -- could sustain both museums as valuable community assets if there was the will and the money.
The showdown in this long war comes Tuesday at 3 p.m. in Room 350 before City Hall's Board of Referred Powers with both sides mounting intense campaigns by fax and email and mobilizing their supporters to attend.
It is a foregone conclusion that the board -- Janice Hahn, Ed Reyes, Tony Cardenas, Bill Rosendahl and Bernard Parks -- will green light the Autry's doubling its size and the Southwest Museum will get fixed up on the cheap and used as little more than classrooms.
I just don't get it.
The city's cultural and political leadership valued the Southwest and its collection so little they allowed the building to deteriorate and the collection to be looted until it reached the point that the Autry came in as the white-hatted hero with promises to restore it as a living museum.
But that isn't what happened. After the takeover of the Southwest, the Autry started making plans to operate only one museum, not two as promised.
It's a question of money, or the lack of it.
The "Singing Cowboy" died at his Studio City home in 1998, leaving an estate worth hundreds of millions of dollars to his widow Jackie.
Despite promises the Autry Museum will eventually inherit a good chunk of the estate when Jackie dies, it has operated on a relative shoestring for many years and it's far from clear it has the money to expand the facility.
The questions I keep wondering about are these:
* If the Autry now can raise the huge sums needed to expand, why can't it raise the much smaller amount needed to restore and operate the Southwest?
* If the city's leaders think there is so much value in a first-rate museum celebrating the Old West, why did they neglect the Southwest for so long, why have they not come forward with money?
* Where's Hollywood? Don't the studios have a stake in promoting the Cowboy and Indians story anymore, in actually contributing to the city's cultural life instead of running away elsewhere to make movies on the cheap?
For my money, this conflict epitomizes the cultural poverty of the city and the lack of political will to create great institutions like Disney Hall and and preserve local institutions as well like the Southwest Museum.
City Hall could not start down that happy trail towards a greater LA on Tuesday by supporting the two-museum solution but don't bet on it.
Of all the dozens of city issues I've learned a lot about in the last year or so, the one that befuddles me the most is the Battle of the Museums -- Autry vs. Southwest.
As things stand, we have a really mediocre facility in the Autry in Griffith Park and a rundown facility in the Mt. Washingon/Glassell Park area that represents the oldest museum in LA, a landmark on the Eastside.
For all I've paid attention to the arguments on both sides, I can't understand why we can't have two wonderful museums dedicated to the artifacts and history of the Old West. The Southwest Museum's vast collection -- now owned by the Autry -- could sustain both museums as valuable community assets if there was the will and the money.
The showdown in this long war comes Tuesday at 3 p.m. in Room 350 before City Hall's Board of Referred Powers with both sides mounting intense campaigns by fax and email and mobilizing their supporters to attend.It is a foregone conclusion that the board -- Janice Hahn, Ed Reyes, Tony Cardenas, Bill Rosendahl and Bernard Parks -- will green light the Autry's doubling its size and the Southwest Museum will get fixed up on the cheap and used as little more than classrooms.
I just don't get it.
The city's cultural and political leadership valued the Southwest and its collection so little they allowed the building to deteriorate and the collection to be looted until it reached the point that the Autry came in as the white-hatted hero with promises to restore it as a living museum.
But that isn't what happened. After the takeover of the Southwest, the Autry started making plans to operate only one museum, not two as promised.
It's a question of money, or the lack of it.
The "Singing Cowboy" died at his Studio City home in 1998, leaving an estate worth hundreds of millions of dollars to his widow Jackie. Despite promises the Autry Museum will eventually inherit a good chunk of the estate when Jackie dies, it has operated on a relative shoestring for many years and it's far from clear it has the money to expand the facility.
The questions I keep wondering about are these:
* If the Autry now can raise the huge sums needed to expand, why can't it raise the much smaller amount needed to restore and operate the Southwest?
* If the city's leaders think there is so much value in a first-rate museum celebrating the Old West, why did they neglect the Southwest for so long, why have they not come forward with money?
* Where's Hollywood? Don't the studios have a stake in promoting the Cowboy and Indians story anymore, in actually contributing to the city's cultural life instead of running away elsewhere to make movies on the cheap?
For my money, this conflict epitomizes the cultural poverty of the city and the lack of political will to create great institutions like Disney Hall and and preserve local institutions as well like the Southwest Museum.
City Hall could not start down that happy trail towards a greater LA on Tuesday by supporting the two-museum solution but don't bet on it.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
Phase Two of the Autry expansion TRIPLES the size of the mediocre museum in Griffith Park.
The Autry has an annual attendance of just a few hundred thousand compared to the 10 million visitors that come to Griffith Park annually. It is hardly a destination.
Ron- I feel your pain but word is that Council offices are being called, faxed, and e-mailed in favor of saving the Southwest Museum from Autry's selfish plan. Your SLAP people should weigh in. We changed the outcome on MEASURE B and inflicted a mortal blow into the political aspirations of Antonio Villaraigosa.
We can do it again. Dial 311 and ask for Larry Frank in the Mayor's office. Tell him that it is appalling that Villaraigosa would take Autry's money and promises of campaign help and sell out his own Mount Washington friends and neighbors who just asked him to enforce Autry's existing commitments in the Merger Agreement. How low will this Mayor stoop?
You are right Ron. This is symbolic of a terrible illness at City Hall. SLAP needs to slap some sense into City Hall on this one. Let's do it.
LOL
The www.autrylies.com
is hysterical.
Check out the movie clip of "Autry's men coming in on another RAID"
Forget the cultural angle, how can the City hand over land to such a wealthy individual?
http://www.citywatchla.com/content/view/1675/
Article in City Watch on the financial injustice of this proposal. If you are a taxpayer, how much do you want coming out of your pocket to benefit Jackie Autry -- Gene's fabulously wealthy widow?
David Cartwright, is the O'Melveny attorney shown in the video link on the merger documents for the Autry/Southwest. He is the Autry's attorney.
Not heard of him? He was sued for malpractice by LAUSD for his involvement in the Belmont Learning Center land purchase. O'Melveny settled the malpractice claim for a substantial amount of money.
The Southwest Museum was constructed with funds from founding partner Mr. O'Melveny himself. Mr. Cartwright working to destroy the museum built by the namesake of his own law firm.
Mr. O'Melveny's memory is being shit on by a member of his law firm.
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