The campaign to save Bukowski's De Longpre bungalow (3 Viewers)

Hindinwood said:
...you put the truth out there, and those who are intelligent or intuitive enough will pick it up. For those who don't, who cares??
That kind of elitist and dismissive attitude ignores the important point that "those who don't" are the majority, and they create the world you live in.
 
MJP,
I don't know what you want me to say here. You accuse me of being naive and idealistic, so I try to frame it in more pragmatic terms. Then the pragmatism apparently is too cynical and elitist.
I am doing the best I can with the situation. I don't think it's as dire as you do, but that's a matter of opinion. However, it is not my goal to make every man woman and child in the land into a Bukowski fan.
If that is your intention I would be more concerned with the reputation which he DOES often have in mainstream discussion, which is as a drunken womanizing marginally-talented guy who got lucky.
I'm not trying to be harsh, but that's the truth mjp.
 
That was where Pleasants first published his claims.
 
Hindinwood said:

Here's an article dated the day after the one quoted above. The title gives me the feeling the author has been on this site. Note the reference to John Martin. Very good point from him:
"Bukowski wasn't a Nazi, he was a contrarian. Anything he could say to get people's goat, he'd say."
Now that is rhetoric on par with Clinton: exchange the N-word for "contrarian". And we all know its true. Way to go John! What article is it from? Also some good direct quotes from the court.
Dear John Martin: if you haven't started writing your memoirs, nows the time!
Read more here: http://www.laweekly.com/la-vida/a-considerable-town/commission-rejects-bukowski-nazi-claim/17806/
 
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I dislike BEN as much as anyone here. I found his book to be absurd and insane.

Has anyone here ever had any dealings with THE BEVERLY HILLS ANARCHIST?

And finally, just how good are the sandwiches at THE BROWN DERBY?
 
Has anyone here ever had any dealings with THE BEVERLY HILLS ANARCHIST?

I know him. Have nothing bad personally to say about him. I don't like the nazi story and frankly have a hard time believeing it. Many of the leaps that he makes are very, very large leaps...

Bill
 
I'm glad to see that nobody buys into the nazi accusation in those articles, not even the guy who's against preserving the bungalow as a memorial...
 
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Down on De Longpre Avenue - Video Clip

Besides this forum, I also post videos on YouTube (under the user name "blairtoo"). I've posted a couple of Bukowski related videos recently and would like to share one of them.


 
delongpre ave

anyone know the status on whether the delongpre ave bungelow will be an historic landmark? google didn't turn up any conclusions. the whole nazi bullshit is ridiculous!!!
 
For those of us a long way from LA..you can cruse Delongpre ave from the air on the
pc map things...its good fun tryin ta figure which one is Buks place!
Love ta see the real thing ..Rich..
 
Rich, to the best of my knowledge, 5124 De Longpre Avenue is the building I've marked with a green square on the attached Google Map screen grab.

If you like cruising the world with Google, check out this thread too.

Here's a link to Google Maps centred on the building.

L I N K

2011 Edit:- You can see the court via Google Street View here.
 

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Rich, to the best of my knowledge, 5124 De Longpre Avenue is the building I've marked with a green square on the attached Google Map screen grab.

that's exactly the place, hank!
btw, according to google-earth, the position is
34° 5'47.36"N - 118°18'5.32"W
 
Personally, after reading most of this thread, I think the bungalow was better off being sold and done with, without stirring so much BS about Bukowski. The smell of money being messed around with smells too much like excrement, and I'm not a big fan of 'reconstructed rooms' either. What is the point of making something look like the real thing decades after it's become something else? It's not like that house will ever be what it was when Buk was actually living there. That's when the magic happened, not afterwards. The magic did not stay behind, it moved with the man who had it.

I can't help but think that any future Bukowski fellows who will meet in that place, if it ever turns into the unlikely landmark which is being discussed, will probably be would-be poets who will drink herbal tea with their turtlenecks and pat each other on the backs for having such a high degree of 'tolerance' to Bukowski's 'gutter poetry'.

The real appreciators of Bukowski's body of work will be elsewhere, flipping them off.
Meeting online from all over the world - Here, perhaps.
 
Good news (for some)

The Planning and Land Use Management committee met today and approved the nomination unanimously.
The owners weren't even there to speak. Apparently the property is in escrow, which most likely means someone saw all the press and bought it to renovate.
Since we haven't heard anymore about the sale, I would really doubt they're planning a museum or any other high-profile project.
I for one am quite satisfied with this probable outcome, but I'll keep you posted.
-Lauren
Ps. The word 'Nazi' didn't cross anyone's lips today.
 
Lazarus rising...

If true - and it looks to be - I'm glad to see it. Preserving anything of an historic nature in L.A. appears about as often as the resurrection of Lazarus from the grave. I'd say this is true even more so when some have identified the writer as being politically on the wrong side of the fence during WW2. Overall he was apolitical of course. And if the walls of DeLonpre could talk - well, they did talk, didn't they? - they talked through the constant outpouring of Bukowski's stories with their genius of soul and gamble...
 
Yeah, the problem is that once that protective fencing comes down those bungalows will be hit by taggers. That's not one of L.A.'s better neighborhoods ... not one of the worst, mind you, but I would never go there after sundown.
 
chicken. I need to get down there and get something for a friend.;)
I've got that covered if you're thinking what I'm thinking. I was over there last week.

I doubt it will be tagged. It's a quiet street, mostly families and old people, and I've not seen any writing on any buildings on the block when I've been over there.
 
Isn't it very near (or actually in) the Little Armenia district just south of Los Feliz? If so, yeah, that area's been a bit gentrified over the years.
 
Incredible, that Buk's bungalow actually has become a historic landmark. Who would've thunk? Next, there'll be guided tours to the bungalow, I'm sure. Well, well, well...
 
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That's not one of L.A.'s better neighborhoods ... not one of the worst, mind you, but I would never go there after sundown.

i definitely Would go.
i've been in this whole area last fall - even at night. it obviously has changed a Lot since the Buk-days (and nights).
there's no danger, that any of us couldn't handle easily.

[...] It's a quiet street, mostly families and old people [...]
exactly.
 
i definitely Would go.
i've been in this whole area last fall - even at night. it obviously has changed a Lot since the Buk-days (and nights).
there's no danger, that any of us couldn't handle easily. (snip..)

I was there last night and my headache is gone.;)
I think the hispanics that were out walking around were more afraid of me and were wondering why I was squeezing around the side of the fence and digging in the dirt.
I should have taken the nice living room light fixture- it looked like an original piece. Bukowski was laughing at my sorry tired out old ass climbing around in his past. I would have really been a laugh had I stolen the beer shit toilet.
Well I'm a chicken I didn't want to steal anything. It's a very good thing they are going to save it. There were volumes of fine writing done in that little place. That's just my opinion since I can see why some could care less if they leveled the place-the words are more important than where they were typed.
 
I'm glad the place will be saved. Would I want Bukowski's toilet? Probably not.

Reading the article, I see they are replacing the drywall and window glass. They should leave in the original stuff if they want to keep it historic. Call me a fanatic.

My own neighborhood is in the process of being declared a historic district and soon, if I want to replace a door or window, it'll take an act of Congress (wait a minute...they no longer exist, make that an act of God).
 
Rekrab said:
They should leave in the original stuff if they want to keep it historic.

that's true.
having it as a historic monument would've been the best.
but since they intend to get tenants into it, they had to modernize.
 
I'm glad the place will be saved. (snip...). They should leave in the original stuff if they want to keep it historic. Call me a fanatic.

Hey Fanatic;
It seems like an old 1920s bungalow even though they went to dry wall. They left all of the lath board and what looks to be an original light fixture. As long as they leave the original dirt it will hold the history and some dust of 30 plus year old cat shit. ;)
 
Hey there,

I walked over there on Saturday (birthday time!) to check out the work they are doing, and it looks awesome.

Actually what's going on is that the original windows were replaced by ugly vinyl sliders some time in the last 20 years. They also made the windows much smaller, to fit the specifications of the ready-made sliders, and filled in the floor to ceiling entry way windows on either side of the door.

So the windows they are putting now are actually in accordance with the Historic Preservation Ordinance, which requires that any renovations made to a Cultural Historic Landmark must reflect the time period of significance. They would not have been able to enforce this however, had the new owner not replaced the old vinyl windows with NEW vinyl windows (unpermitted), effictively activating the above rule, which resulted in the Cultural Heritage Commission intervening. That's sort of convoluted, but I hope it makes some sense.

Long story short, the place now more closely resembles how it looked in the time when Bukowski lived there. As an added bonus for the future tenants, it also looks much better!

-Lauren
 

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