Save Our Heritage Organisation

Roses are red, Jacarandas are blue. San Diego’s historic places are lucky to have friends like YOU! Happy Valentine’s Day!

From Historic Pepper Trees of Kensington: "Any irony in this statement? "City arborists, with community input, will select an appropriate tree for the specific location, Santacroce said in an email Friday." Considering that they are refusing any community input about the importance of these trees to the neighborhood, why would we think they'd be interested in community input about replacements? Because that input would be that we want mature trees with 60 foot canopies planted as replacements. Peppers would be nice..."

Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness. - Kahlil Gibran Vintage souvenir postcard of the iconic California Pepper tree.

Help save the Kensington Heritage Pepper Trees this Wednesday! Send your NON-AGENDA Public Comment to the Community Forrest Advisory Board to support pepper tree designation HERE: https://www.sandiego.gov/boards-and-commissi/public-comment. Very important to let Mayor Gloria ([email protected]) know you support this too! #SOHOMEL2020

September & October City of SD Designations- Five of the new designations occupy the Uptown community and include the former Mission Hills Branch Library. Three other resources are within Bankers Hill. Check them all out here! http://www.sohosandiego.org/.../1120designatedcountywide.htm

It’s very expensive to do a new build hotel, particular in city downtowns, says Bradford Hudson, a professor of marketing at Boston College who researches historic hotels. But renovating or running a historic structure can come with tax credits, municipal financing, and may be a less expensive way to enter a market than building something new. ...They’re probably the greenest hotels around, the ultimate use of recycled products, says Larry Horwitz, executive vice presid...ent of Historic Hotels of America, a hotel membership directory linked with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The opposite can happen too, says Terrace Plaza Hotel advocate Muller, whose thinks converting older hotels to condos or retail complexes also amounts to a preservation win. Some things need to be frozen in time and kept exactly as they were, like Mount Vernon, but other buildings can be adapted, says Muller. You can get a reverberation and things that anchor you in a long history. https://www.nationalgeographic.com//how-to-save-a-histor/

We are so sorry to share the news that the 1894 Red Roost and Red Rest cottages, the rarest surviving examples of late 19th-century beach cottages that once proliferated in La Jolla were seriously damaged by fire early today, Oct. 26. The fire department has called the cause of the blaze undetermined". "The owners said in a statement to the La Jolla Light that we are appalled and saddened about [the] fire affecting the Red Roost and Red Rest. We will work tirelessly to es...tablish a comprehensive plan to move forward. Speaking for the owners, La Jolla architect Paul Benton said their intent was to preserve the property as much as possible until the cottages could be rehabilitated or restored." SOHOs oldest listing, it has been 25 years that the Red Roost and Red Rest cottages have appeared on SOHO's Most Endangered List.

To those who observe, Happy Hanukkah. The first day of Hanukkah marks the start of Hanukkah, also known as Chanukah or Festival of Lights. Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish observance that remembers the Jewish people's struggle for religious freedom.

"Meanwhile, in Old Town, one of the nation’s most famously haunted homes the 163-year-old Whaley House is offering tours of the virtual kind through Oct. 31. Usually in the month of October, the historic museum draws up to 9,000 ghost-seeking visitors, but it’s been closed since the pandemic struck in mid-March. Instead, the museum’s operator, the Save Our Heritage Organisation, is raising money for the home’s upkeep with a new filmed tour led by SOHO historians Dean Glas...s and Robin Lakin. For a $10 streaming fee, viewers can virtually visit the halls, stairwells, rooms and grounds of the 1857 Greek Revival home that Travel Channel has called the most haunted house in America. So many people love to come every year for Halloween, both from here and from out of town. We couldn’t host it in person this year so we thought this would be a good way to raise some money for the museum, which is a nonprofit, said Glass, who said he has seen ghosts several times during his 16 years there." By Pam Kragen The San Diego Union-Tribune Tickets HERE: http://www.whaleyhouse.org/event_halloween2020tour.htm

Robin and Dean live and breathe the Whaley House! No two better people to answer any and all history questions about the home and family. Hope you will join us for this fun fundraiser! October 30-31 Lifting the Veil: A Q&A with Whaley House Historians... Join us for a 45-minute Q&A with Whaley House historians Dean Glass and Robin Lakin who will discuss some of the myths and folklore of the Most Haunted House in America, and answer your questions.

Great news - did you know that the CARES Act provides charitable tax incentives for End Of Year Giving?! Learn more here: https://www.cnbc.com//cares-act-added-a-300-charitable-con You can donate to SOHO Here! http://www.sohosandiego.org/giving/donationspaymentform.htm

" Modernism in Tijuana is historically significant and deserves deep evaluation and policies to protect it before all the worthy examples disappear. " Maria Curry

Tile in your historic home! The original tile in your home is something to be treasured and bragged about, not something to destroy. Keep in mind that a fireplace covered in original California tile can add thousands of dollars in value to a house. Allow the home's style to guide you through the renovation or restoration. Classic styles, designs, and period colors look beautiful and never become dated. Look through books to research what was available when your home was built and then match that with your own taste. With the reproduction of historic tile today at an all time high, tile has never been more available since its heyday. http://www.sohosandiego.org/reflections/2007-34/tileuse.htm

Stuff's getting kinda scary over at the Whaley's... Info HERE: http://www.whaleyhouse.org/event_halloween2020tour.htm

"A must have for locals and anyone interested in beach area and San Diego history..." - OB RAG We love these community history books that only our local historians who truly know and love thier historic neighborhoods can best write! Check it out- details at the story link.

Explore the haunted side of history this Halloween month! And support our work at the same time! http://www.whaleyhouse.org/event_halloween2020tour.htm

While we cannot greet crowds in the physical realm this year we invite fans of history and the paranormal to join us in spirit for some hauntingly fun and entertaining virtual events!

Please take a minute and read this article! And keep in mind that San Diego has less than 5% historic inventory! But to most developers and politicians thats just too much! .."Beyer suggests that having historic districts is constraining needed development. However, in the City of New York less than five percent of the developable parcels are under the purview of the Landmarks Commission. We are such believers in market urbanism that we think the real estate development ...community is smart enough to make a living on 95% of the land not historically designated. It should be noted that, in each of the five boroughs, the historic districts are among the densest neighborhoods. Low density areas in New York? A whopping 1.1% are in historic districts; 98.9% are not."... .."Finally, Beyer, along with other preservation critics, seems to be stuck in the historic preservation of the 1970s. First, they are for designating buildings based on grand architectural character but think buildings that aren’t distinctive and uninteresting and should be razed. It was preservationists’ recognition that our cities’ histories are incorporated into more than just the buildings of rich, dead, white guys that led to a much broader and more diverse set of criteria of what merits protection. Second, the article ends with this: The idea of putting historic status around whole districtsis straight out of the top-down planning playbook. Even a most cursory examination of the reality of historic preservation would have shown the author that today in most American cities (including New York if he would have but asked), local historic districts are only created when local residents ask that the quality and character of their neighborhood be protectedthe polar opposite of top-down planning. We at PlaceEconomics are all for Market Urbanism. And historic preservation is market urbanism at its best"

SOHO as a 501c3 non-profit is not at liberty to endorse candidates, but we do strongly encourage you to learn all you can about which candidates (not just the mayoral) care about historic preservation and conservation. Friday, October 9 at 5 PM the Mayoral candidates discuss Balboa Park. During a virtual town hall, mayoral candidates Todd Gloria and Barbara Bry will address the future of Balboa Park. The conversation will be moderated by Voice of San Diego CEO and Editor in ...Chief Scott Lewis and hosted by Friends of Balboa Park and the Balboa Park Conservancy. Watch live, or watch at your convenience on YouTube any time after the event.

This Egyptian style bungalow court at 3772 Park Blvd, is quite a unique survivor for San Diego. Designated in 1991, the Egyptian Courts Apartments illustrates technological innovation developed after WWI and due to the uncovering of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 created the Egyptian Revival of the 20s and 30s worldwide. . "Grand columns, representing bundled papyrus, flank the entrance to the courtyard of the Egyptian Court apartments. Symmetrical designs, architectural ...elements, and garden plantings are typical of Egyptian Revival" 1954 Photo by Harold Allen Courtesy Ryerson & Burnham Archives More recent image courtesy The Flame Apartments

The Del Mar Historical Society and Dunham House Campaign Committee want to thank Dunham House owner Chris Huber, the Winston School for their offer to keep the Dunham House in the historic heart of Del Mar, architects Dean Meredith and Jennifer Johnson, contractor Kevin Vint, house mover Garth Fitz-Henley, SOHO’s Amie Hayes and Del Mar Deputy Mayor Terry Gaasterland for their support. The group now wants to find a home for the other historic Jacob Taylor cottage, the Alvarado-Levi House, which has been temporarily parked at the Del Mar Fairgrounds for more than 30 years, awaiting its promised return to Del Mar.

A lot has happened in the ten years since our 40th Anniversary - this shortened version of the full-length documentary produced for SOHO's 40th Anniversary in 2009 by Dan Soderberg chronicles SOHOs influential history from 1969 through 2009. HERE for the Video: http://www.sohosandiego.org/video/sohostory.htm It notes how SOHO has evolved, keeping pace with the passage of time, the environmental movement, redevelopment cycles, and natural disasters. What began as a small grou...p committed to saving Victorian houses is now one of the largest such organizations in California, one that champions and illuminates the value and significance of all of San Diego County's historic sites and cultural landscapes. Dan Soderberg, SOHO board member is a UCLA-trained filmmaker and he spent nearly a year interviewing SOHO members and staff for the documentary. He also researched the group's four decades of achievements through archives, libraries, and hundreds of photographs. "There is no one SOHO story. There are many stories and all of them are compelling," Dan said, "SOHO people tend to devote every ounce of their being to the cause, so it was a challenge to pick the stories to tell."

This 1922 cutie needs a preservation-minded buyer!