QUARTERLY MEETING

May 13, 2008 | O'Neill National Historic Site, Danville

Mark your calendar for the next meeting: Tuesday, August 4 at 4:00 at the Fay Garden in San Francisco: http://www.rhn.org/historyfayhouse.html

The meeting was hosted by Lucy Lawliss at the Eugene O'Neill State Historic Park in Danville. Members toured the garden then met on site at the supervisor's building.

1. PIEDMONT WAY

   Frederica Drotos reported that the Piedmont Way construction and design drawings are 70% complete and have been submitted to the City of Berkeley for preliminary review. Changes in the Berkeley city staff have resulted in delays that make it uncertain when the project will get a review. Plans to start some planting this fall may be jeopardized by the delay. The group discussed possible measures to persuade the city to initiate the review; such as asking if Representative Barbara Lee would write a letter, providing a letter from HALSNCC, asking Friends of Piedmont Way, Strawberry Canyon supporters, and supporters of the Thorsen House to lend a voice, contacting local and national newspapers, and showing the Berkeley staff members the new book The Master List of Design Projects of the Olmsted Firm 1857-1979 in order to help them appreciate the significance of the project. It was agreed that it is important to bring pressure to bear in order to maintain momentum for the project.

2. OLOMPALI STATE PARK

   Diane Einstein gave an update on the progress made to restore the Mary Burdell Garden at Olompali State Park. The PGAdesign team, led by Cathy Garrett, has delivered construction drawings that are in review. Two student volunteers are working on research with Diane. Paul Engel, a SSU Anthropology student is writing a National Register listing for the garden; the landscape may be part of an expansion of the original listing, or may be separate nomination. Student Richard Snapp is transcribing the documentation from the court case that determined the authenticity of Camilo Ynitia's land grant.

   The next step is finding funding. Diane hopes that TEA and Prop 40 money will be possible sources. Other sources of funding or funding information may be friend's groups for Golden Gate Park and Central Park.

   This Sunday is the 23rd annual Heritage Day at the park: http://www.olompali.org/ .Cathy Garrett will lead a tour of the Burdell garden at noon during the event.

3. KAISER ROOF GARDEN

   Marlea Graham provided copies of a narrative she wrote about the Kaiser Roof Garden that has been submitted for possible publication in Cultural Landscapes Foundation's Landslides - Marvels of Modernism. She also passed out copies of the HALS report on the garden. Marlea is trying to get resolution of history of some garden details and there was a discussion about possible sources. Lucy Lawliss knows some Kaiser historians who may be able to help. There was also a discussion about National Register and HALS and the benefit of each for the garden. It was agreed that HALS documentation is appropriate and desirable. A HALS submittal is close. Material is gathered but not yet organized, photos are done, and drawings are underway. Marlea said that the current owners of the building, the Swig Corporation, may be seeking LEED certification for upcoming proposals for expanding the building. Marlea, Chris Pattillo and Cathy Garrett will attend that meeting to assure the Swig Corporation understands the LEED points available to them by preserving the garden.

4. HALS INVENTORY

   Cate Bainton reported that she has compiled a list of historic and cultural sites by county some of which may be potential candidates for HALS documentation. The list includes 45 of California's 58 counties (all counties north of Monterey County). She is asking members to review the list. She compiled the list from many sources and hopes that people who are familiar with the counties below can review the list. To review a list simply requires looking through the listing to see if a familiar site is listed and advising Cate if it seems that there is any possibility that the landscape might be significant. In some cases it may be that the landscape is long gone. In other cases suggestions are made to include a site that isn't listed. It's an easy and interesting task, and fun to do if you gather a group of friends. If you know anything about the counties below, or know someone who does, please contact Cate. It was agreed that Cate has done a herculean job with the list with splendid results, and she received an enthusiastic round of applause.

   The following counties have not been reviewed: Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Plumas, San Joaquin, Shasta, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, Trinity, and Tuolumne.

   Cate wishes to thank the following people for reviewing the format and/or content of the list: Tamara O'Kelly, Tammara Norman, Steve Finacom, Russ Beatty, Pam-Anela Messenger, Phoebe Cutler, Marianne Hurley, Marlea Graham, Mike Garavaglia, Lucy Tolmach, Lucy Lawliss, Jan Wooley, JC Miller, Jill Johnson, Janet Gracyk, Diana Painter, Chris Pattillo, Cindy Angers, and Barrie Coate .

   There was also a discussion about whether to include addresses on the list when the list is posted on the HALSCA website. It was agreed that a survey of other organizations will inform as to generally accepted practice, and it was agreed that private property names won't be listed on the website.

5. WEBSITE

   Steve Cancian reported that he has been working with JC Miller and Tom Brown on the web site. They have a web architect who has done preliminary layout; Steve passed around printouts of a sample page. The list of potential candidates for HALS documentation will be the meat of the website, with links to other work by the group. There will also be links to a page about the group's mission and contact information, to a FAQ page, links to other groups, and to preservation resources.

   Chris Pattillo will work on the FAQ and visuals of the work in progress, Cate will supply a list of candidate sites, and Janet will supply text on levels of preservation. Cate has links to associated organizations and it was noted that the California Garden ad Landscape History links page was especially good. Deadline for the content is the second Friday in June, it is hoped that the site will be up and available for review at the next meeting. Steve welcomes your input and help.

6. REPORTS
   1. Chris Pattillo reported on the HALS funding campaign. It's a 13-step process; two steps are done. The drive to contact representatives went well. Senators received 50 letters, (50 is considered a good turnout). Chris Kent went with the ASLA to DC on Lobby Day and met with Dianne Feinstein's staff and Barbara Lee. Lee is a great supported of HALS and her staff was knowledgeable on the subject. Now a senator needs to write the legislation and carry the bill. ASLA and/or Chris Pattillo will keep us apprised of developments. (Chris Kent told Chris Pattillo that the letters to district reps made a difference.)
   2. Chris Pattillo proposed a meeting with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and some of our members to introduce them to what our HALS chapter is doing.
   3. Janet Gracyk reported on the Vernacular Architecture Forum conference in Fresno, which she found to be very informative and well organized. (http://www.vernaculararchitectureforum.org/) Members of VAF are in the early stages of designing a database of images. The site is partially under construction and can be viewed at MyVernacular.com. In time the site developers hope to have a menu whereby one would embed metadata in photos prior to upload. Currently flickr.com is the most used photo database and the VAF team recommends using flickr.com, but always embedding latitude and longitude information and location names with every photo. The group's main focus is architecture, but there were some sessions about landscape. (An interesting aside: members of VAF also spoke with enthusiasm about a free download research tool for those who use Firefox called Zotero: http://www.zotero.org/)

Meeting adjourned to a delicious and lively dinner at the Fig Leaf in downtown Danville.