Project Restore

Newsletter

Events

2008 Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony

Project Restore co-hosted a joyous reception at Los Angeles City Hall in celebration of the holiday season. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 11 (IBEW) and the Los Angeles County Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) generously donated a fifty-foot-tall tree to officially kick-off the holiday season. A number of dignitaries, community leaders, and sponsors shared a night of fun-filled caroling and entertainment provided by . Miss Kelley Foster-Villalobos, Allison Iraheta, Hope Institute of Music, A Little Dickens Carolers, and the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks children choirs: Harmony Project Choir at EXPO Center, Glassell Park Child Care Center, Echo Park Child Care Center.

Original City Hall Elevator

(32 K).

Project Restore located and acquired the last remaining original City Hall elevator cab in 1990. The 1928 elevator cab, which is ornamented in the Art Deco style, was found in a salvage yard. It measures approximately six feet square by eight feet tall and is constructed of steel sheathed in solid bronze. It weighs approximately 2,000 pounds. The historic elevator has been on display on the third floor, near the Spring Street entrance, since 1991.

(36 K)

The 1920's cab still has all of its original Art Deco features, which include solid bronze paneling with ornamental relief in various designs.

(26 K)

Hanging from the dome of polished white metal is an Art Deco silver pendent light fixture. Many historic pieces of City Hall were "modernized" in the 1960's. Recently retired from the Bureau of Engineering, Project Restore volunteer Georgia Feingold brought back one of these original light fixtures, which had been serving as her front light for 30 years. When the elevators were being dismantled in the 1960's, Georgia's husband Mort Feingold, also retired from the Bureau of Engineering, asked the construction worker dismantling the elevators, if he could have one of the light fixtures. Should you have any such historic items in your home, please notify Project Restore at (213) 485-6163.

The A. J. Bayer Company, founder of the Los Angeles Art Metal Works Company, was responsible for the design and craftsmanship of the elevator cab's bronze panels and doors. A. J. Bayer's other projects included the Los Angeles Athletic Club Building, the Union Oil Building, Hall of Records, and the Oviatt Building.

(31 K)

These original elevators were run by attendants in blue uniforms, on duty in each elevator. They operated the levers of each cab. The entire crew of elevator operators was overseen by a supervisor whose job was to see that the system ran smoothly and to maintain communication with each car in case of trouble. Rides of only one floor were strictly prohibited except for the elderly or ill!

The cabs were taken out in the 1960s, when modernization was "in".

Each piece of the historic cab has been cataloged and has been used as a prototype for remodeling City Hall elevator No. 8. As part of Project Restore's renovation of the Main Street Lobby, the interior of elevator No. 8 has been completely replaced with a replica of the original elevator. The interior of each remaining seven elevators will also be replicated based upon the 1928 design. This information was obtained from Project Restore's Newsletter article authored by Maria Burden.

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