Dear Friend of the Chili Bowl,
Thank you for joining 1163 concerned citizens who have signed the petition urging councilmember Mike Bonin to pause the pending demolition permit and help to move L.A.’s last Chili Bowl from its longtime home at 12244 West Pico Boulevard to a safe location within the city of Los Angeles.
The Chili Bowl is in grave peril, with an active demo permit, obscured from public view with demolition fence and scaffolding surrounding it. We need all of the building’s friends to mobilize in its defense.
The West Los Angeles Sawtelle Neighborhood Council, which unanimously supported the landmarking effort last year, will address the crisis in two items on its Tuesday night agenda. We expect the Chili Bowl to come up for discussion around 8:30pm in the lengthy meeting, and your public comments would be very welcome and helpful.
You can find the agenda here (PDF link) or on this webpage.
Here is the link to watch the meeting on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88631839397 Meeting ID 886 3183 9397 (and press #)
If you’d like to make public comment, dial (669) 900-6833, and enter 886 3183 9397 (and press #) to join the meeting. Press *9 to raise your hand to speak when the agenda item comes up. Press *6 to unmute your phone.
If you prefer to make written public comment, you can email that by Tuesday afternoon to the Chair at JayR@WestLASawtelle.org
What should you say when you call in to comment? Just speak briefly from the heart about your hope to see the Chili Bowl preserved and what the building means to you. You might say that it’s a rare surviving example of the programmatic roadside architecture that Southern California was famous for, that you loved eating at Shunji or at Mr. Cecil’s Ribs, or that you think it’s cool that it was a favorite late night spot for WW2 aircraft factory workers. Anything you say will be perfect and helpful!
These are the Chili Bowl agenda items:
10. Chili Bowl (12444 W. Pico Blvd.): Motion - Request that owner not demolish the Chili Bowl building (demolition permit was issued on Feb. 4), and ask owner to collaborate with CD11 to find a new site to preserve the building.
11k. Board action on previous PLUM motions: Chili Bowl historic / cultural designation (12244 W. Pico Blvd.): Proposal to preserve onsite as preferred action with Conditions if relocate former Chili Bowl building to Bundy Triangle Park. i. City status: Council voted on Jun. 29 to oppose designation, and CD11 opposed designation. Owner filed lawsuit and submitted a second historic analysis that opposed Historic-Cultural Monument designation. ii. NC status: Board to consider at July meeting.
We look forward to hearing from many of you tomorrow night around 8:30pm.
And even if you’ve already reached out, please call Mike Bonin's office at 310-575-8461 and/or email Councilmember.Bonin@lacity.org with the simple, updated message, which you can add to if you like: "I care about the Chili Bowl at 12244 West Pico Boulevard, which is currently surrounded by scaffolding and has an active demolition permit. I am asking the Councilmember to resume discussions with Friends of the Chili Bowl and the Los Angeles Conservancy, and to work with the property owner and find the funds needed to move this historic Los Angeles treasure somewhere safe, and not to let it be demolished. Thank you."
This is just a matter of money and real estate and time. Surely the answer can be found to save the only giant Chili Bowl in Los Angeles so it can enjoy another 87 years in the sun. Maybe you’ve got the perfect spot for a giant Chili Bowl to call its temporary home? Call us—we can help!
That’s all the news that fits in a giant Chili Bowl. Please continue to share the petition (http://www.change.org/SaveTheChiliBowl) with friends who love the Chili Bowl and want to see it saved. And stay tuned for additional updates as they happen.
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim Cooper & Richard Schave
Friends of the Chili Bowl