Dear Friend of the Morrison Hotel,
Thank you being among the first 270 people to sign the petition urging Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Ysabel Jurado to use the power of their offices to find a preservation solution for the Morrison Hotel, and put the brakes on its possible demolition.
If you watched the Rose Parade this morning, you might have seen a float featuring Charlie Chaplin, honoring the centennial of Chaplin's comic masterpiece "The Gold Rush" and reminding us that Chaplin became famous portraying a homeless person. This float was presented by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the non-profit that owns the Morrison Hotel and intends to restore the 111 very affordable units so that Angelenos can once again live there.
Over on the Empty Los Angeles blog, C.C. de Vere is advocating for the Morrison Hotel to be saved, and calling out the disturbing rash of fires that have destroyed so many useful and long vacant buildings around town. Many of those are wood frame and have to be demolished, but the Morrison Hotel is made of stronger stuff.
And we've shared a video that we shot on the Hope Street sidewalk the day after the fire, after collecting a big bag full of metal and wooden artifacts that fell from the top of the building during the fire fight. And we're glad we did that, because when we stopped by yesterday all the debris had been swept up! Stay tuned for more visits to the site, and more news as it happens.
City Hall is still locked up for the holiday, but soon elected officials will be back at work and we'll be advocating directly for them to be a Friend of the Morrison Hotel, too. Please continue to share the petition with other folks who care about rock and roll history, architecture and affordable housing so we can show them how many people believe that this place matters and should be saved.
yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric / Friends of the Morrison Hotel