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Life & Times Transcript

09/25/06

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

It's a renowned work of art by an acclaimed artist. How did it turn into a blank wall?

Nathan Zakheim>> This is like, you know, chopping down Mount Rushmore or something large like that.

Kent Twitchell>> I'd never expected it because I knew it was a well-loved piece and it had become a landmark in Los Angeles.

Val Zavala>> And then, big changes are coming to the Balboa Peninsula. Are they squeezing all the fun out of an Orange County landmark?

These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times.

Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val Zavala>> Take a look at this big blank wall on an old building in downtown Los Angeles. There's not a mark on it, right? And that's precisely the point. This big blank wall is nevertheless making a mark on art history.

Drive down Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles and, on the side of a government building, you'll see this. But only a short time ago, you would have seen this. This is, or was, a mural by one of Los Angeles's most accomplished and respected muralists, Kent Twitchell. He is also the artist who painted the giant portraits of musicians alongside the 110 Freeway and this mural in Torrance and this one at Viola University in La Mirada.

But these days, it's the mural he finished back in 1987 that is demanding his attention. That's because, whether by accident or intention, the mural is no more. It was painted over in June by a private contractor hired to repair the building.

I met Twitchell at his studio in Culver City. The news was especially painful, considering it took him nine years to paint the mural. He remembers back in the mid-1970s when he was a student at Otis College of Art and Design. He wanted to create a mural depicting a quintessential Los Angeles artist. He chose as his subject painter Ed Ruscha.

Kent Twitchell>> From that, I had to find a wall. The wall came to me suddenly from Cartwright, who was the director of Job Corps. I went and looked at the wall and I thought, "My God, this is the wall I've been lusting after for two years. This is perfect."

Val Zavala>> So how did the Ruscha mural get painted over? For that story, we turn to Nathan Zakheim. Zakheim conserves and restores works of art and he shares studio space with Twitchell. In fact, he was beginning the process of restoring the Ruscha mural earlier this summer when he noticed something happening.

Nathan Zakheim>> And guess what I saw was holes all over it, but were being patched. They had been knocked into it. There were twenty-five holes on the main figure and a total of forty-seven on the entire mural.

Val Zavala>> The holes were part of earthquake retrofitting. The contractor was Southern California Contractors.

Nathan Zakheim>> I came down there to tell them, oh, slow down. You're treading on dangerous cobras and snakes and whatnot. By that time, they'd painted it out. They started with the figure and started towards the background. If they'd started with the background, there would have been some point in stopping.

Val Zavala>> When Zakheim saw the workers about to paint over the mural, he tried to stop them.

Nathan Zakheim>> I went down on Friday. I got down there at eight o'clock in the morning and talked with the supervisor at the job site. He gave me his card. I told him that this was a disaster, you know. You're running your car right toward the brick wall. He said, "Well, we got authorization. The federal government's paying. Orders to do it. We have no choice."

I said, "Give yourself a choice because at this point you're heading towards a brick wall." I said, "This is a protected mural. It's one of the great works of art. It's published in hundreds of books." I mean, it's not as though it's an unknown piece that won't be noticed if it's gone. This is like, you know, chopping down Mount Rushmore or something large like that.

Val Zavala>> The painters gave Zakheim their boss's phone number. He called and the secretary answered.

Nathan Zakheim>> The boss's secretary gave me his cell phone number (laughter), which she wasn't supposed to. I called him on his cell phone, which surprised him. I told him, "Look what you're doing. You'd better stop." He got really upset and hung up on me.

Kent Twitchell>> I'd never expected it because I knew it was a well-loved piece and it had become a landmark in Los Angeles.

Nathan Zakheim>> Started at eight, called him at ten and they didn't finish painting it out until probably six or seven at night, so they had plenty of warning.

Val Zavala>> Did you hear anything at all about the plans to paint over the mural?

Kent Twitchell>> I had no idea that there were any plans whatsoever to paint over the mural.

Val Zavala>> A federal law called the Visual Artists Rights Act says that artists must be given ninety days notice before their work can be painted over.

Kent Twitchell>> Ninety days and, you know, I was against that law. I'm kind of a libertarian. I have a libertarian side to me, so I was against that law for a long time. Finally, Amy Neiman who was on the board of the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles got me down one time and explained to me what that law really was. She read the law to me and I thought, oh, okay. In other words, the law says I can destroy your work, but I have to give you ninety days notice. So I thought, oh, gee, okay.

Val Zavala>> The owner of a building or whatever does have the right to paint over murals, but they have to inform the artist.

Kent Twitchell>> That all it is. It isn't any kind of tyrannical thing at all. It's very reasonable. It's just like any other law. It's enforced good manners. That's all it is.

Val Zavala>> A couple of weeks later, Twitchell filed a five and one half million dollar lawsuit against eight parties connected to the mural, including Southern California Contractors. Life and Times contacted the company, but they declined to comment on the case which is in litigation. We also contacted the Department of Labor, who owns the building, and the YWCA, who runs the Job Corps program here. All declined to comment, given the pending lawsuit.

And this is not the first time that Kent Twitchell has had to sue over the loss of one of his murals. In 1986, another of his murals called "Our Woman of the Freeway" was painted over by a billboard company. Twitchell sued and won.

Kent Twitchell>> The property owner had to pay, but it was not possible to restore it. We were restoring it and then graffiti vandals hit.

Val Zavala>> Twitchell admits that protecting murals in Los Angeles is no easy task, but it's rare that contractors are at fault. The most common threat to Los Angeles's two thousand murals is graffiti vandals.

Kent Twitchell>> The graffiti vandals have just literally taken over Los Angeles and the mural movement is all but dead as a result of that.

Val Zavala>> The saddest part of the story is that it all could have been avoided.

Nathan Zakheim>> Oh, it would have been a total happy ending to the story. Actually, Kent would have been enhanced by them taking so much care to do the work that had to be done on the building legally and preserving the mural and bringing it up to speed also, for which we already had a contract.

Val Zavala>> Even if Twitchell wins his lawsuit, it can't replace the effort he invested in the sixty foot Ruscha portrait. He worked over nine years without a commission in stops and starts, scraping together a little money here and a small grant there. And what does Twitchell hope to gain from a lawsuit?

Kent Twitchell>> There are two things that I want. I want the mural restored.

Val Zavala>> How about repainting it?

Kent Twitchell>> Repainting it would be the second. Luckily, I have all the original photographs that I'd taken of Ed Ruscha. I don't throw anything away. I think, even more than that is the notion that people can come in to a city and just have their way with what we hold dear.

I think if I didn't -- you know, with all the feedback I've gotten, if I didn't fight, I would be ridden out of town on a rail by people in the Art Conservancy because I've been thrown into a situation where I represent all the artists of Los Angeles and certainly all the public artists.

Val Zavala>> But for the time being, Los Angeles has one fewer Kent Twitchell mural and one more freshly painted building.

Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times".

Val Zavala>> A longstanding summer tradition is going away. The Bumper Cars on Balboa Island in Newport Beach are getting bumped and the old-fashioned Fun Zone is giving way to a new attraction. Will it be an improvement? Orange County reporter, Roger Cooper, takes a look at the past and the future of Balboa Island's popular boardwalk.

Roger Cooper>> The little ferry that crosses Newport Harbor takes automobiles over to Balboa Peninsula three cars at a time. It's also a kind of time machine transporting passengers through a beloved part of Newport Beach history, a place that hasn't changed much since 1936, the Balboa Fun Zone. It's one of the last of the classic oceanside amusement areas on the California coast.

[Film Clip]

Roger Cooper>> What's the Fun Zone?

Gay Wassall-Kelly>> Oh, my gosh. What isn't it? It's fun, that's what it is. It's rides and it's junk food. I've been loving it since 1949.

Roger Cooper>> But the days are numbered for the Balboa Fun Zone. Ironically, it's about to fade into history to make way for a different kind of history, a museum. The Newport Harbor Nautical Museum has purchased the Fun Zone. This will soon be the site of a new and expanded museum complex. Only the Ferris Wheel will remain.

David Muller>> It's the ship that was made for the King of Siam back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It's gold and silver and it's fully rigged with gold and silver.

Roger Cooper>> A few miles away from the Fun Zone is a replica of a river boat moored by a bridge on PCH and inside are displays of model boats and Newport Harbor history, but by the end of this year, the Nautical Museum will pack up and move to the Fun Zone.

You'd think a boat would be the perfect place for a maritime museum. You'd think that, but this boat has seen better days, much better days. Designed for a twenty year lifespan, it's now pushing forty and there's concern whether it can stay afloat.

David Muller>> So the vessel has pushed its limit in terms of maintenance. It costs us thirty percent of our annual budget to keep this boat afloat.

Roger Cooper>> The Nautical Museum's Executive Director, David Muller, also notes their long-term lease with the Irvine Company has expired. They had to move somewhere and the beloved Fun Zone became available.

David Muller>> We fully acknowledge that we acquired a landmark location that has a long, cherished history in this community. Many of our trustees are second and third generation Newporters, so they also have cherished memories. We'll keep recognizing the significance of the location. We intend to become a focal point of the harbor which is essentially what the Fun Zone is now.

Roger Cooper>> There is not so much opposition to the museum as there is nostalgia for what will be lost.

Gay Wassall-Kelly>> Well, we are going to be sad, but then we are going to be glad because look what's coming in: the preservation of our nautical history.

Roger Cooper>> Gay Wassall-Kelly is a long-time Balboa resident and history buff. For her, losing the Fun Zone will be bittersweet.

Gay Wassall-Kelly>> My parents bought a home just two blocks from the Fun Zone in 1955, so I could drag all my girlfriends down here and we'd take those stupid pictures on those little, you know, strips and cram everybody in. I still have them.

[Film Clip]

Roger Cooper>> You got to do things your parents might not have wanted you to?

Gay Wassall-Kelly>> Well, yeah. Well, we met boys. That's what we did (laughter). They were in car clubs and, oh, my gosh, they were from Santa Ana and Costa Mesa and you were only supposed to meet Newport boys. We'd go and have our pictures taken with them and try to hide them from our folks. We might take a motorcycle ride, which was unheard of, you know.

Roger Cooper>> Nearly everyone here has memories of the Fun Zone, even Museum President, Pete Pallette.

Pete Pallette>> It's an exciting place, a home for a lot of my misspent youth at the chagrin of my parents back in the Dark Ages.

Roger Cooper>> This place means a lot to Newport Beach.

Pete Pallette>> Roger, it's really iconic to Newport. People come down here from all over the place and enjoy themselves. They've been doing it for seventy years and there's no reason that will change.

Roger Cooper>> Architect, Jay Bauer, thinks the new museum will be a great complement to the Newport Pavilion, the one hundred year old icon that was built to attract Red Line visitors to the then new Newport Beach.

Jay Bauer>> We'd like it to be a memory place for Newport Harbor that reflects the vision and the activities that this museum is all about, and what better location than a harborside location? It could be like a great front porch for Newport Harbor.

Roger Cooper>> But can a museum compete with Bumper Cars, especially for young people? Museum Chairman, Terry Bibbens, says it can by offering ship simulators and interactive exhibits.

Terry Bibbens>> We had a delightful twelve year old send us an email saying she was really concerned that we were taking away her Bumper Cars and were going to have a boring museum that only old people would go to see. We are bringing the message back to her that, no, we're going to have a lot of hands-on activities.

Roger Cooper>> In its new dockside location, the museum also hopes to bring back the tall ships that once plied Newport Harbor.

David Muller>> We have a photograph from 1960 that shows two tall ships side-tied at the Fun Zone with the Pavilion in the background and it's just a classic shot of old Newport. In a sense, we want to bring it back to the future is where we're headed with this, to be able to reintroduce those into the Fun Zone.

Roger Cooper>> The new Nautical Museum will also include a touch of Hollywood history. Not far from the Fun Zone, you could have once spotted Bogey and Bacall, and John Wayne aboard his boat, The Wild Goose.

David Muller>> I mean, some of the really classic Hollywood movie stars used to have their boats here.

Roger Cooper>> This was also the launch point for aviator, Glenn Martin, and his historic first flight to Catalina Island.

[Film Clip]

Roger Cooper>> And the Rendezvous Ballroom originated radio broadcasts beamed out to the nation featuring all the big bands of the day.

Gay Wassall-Kelly>> Oh, my gosh. Well, Stan Kenton and Benny Goodman and just all the jazz as they came through.

Roger Cooper>> But in 1966, the Rendezvous Ballroom burned down. It was never rebuilt. So with the museum plans underway, what do you do with the amusement rides? That's where the internet comes in. The Bumper Cars are already listed for sale, a bargain at a hundred thirty thousand, and the Drummer Boy ride is going for sixty-four thousand. So this is the last summer for the Fun Zone. Gay says what amuses people has changed.

Gay Wassall-Kelly>> You have to understand that our children and our families are a little more sophisticated than they were back in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, and our Balboa only has a small square block and it can't grow. So it was time for someone else to come and take over and I think the Nautical Museum was perfect, just absolutely perfect.

Roger Cooper>> The nonprofit Nautical Museum will be moved into its new home by the end of the year, signaling a new era for Balboa. After seventy years of living up to its name, the Fun Zone will not disappear completely. It will become an exhibit in the museum that will replace it. In Newport Harbor, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times.

Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address:

Life and Times
4401 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90027

You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org.

Val Zavala>> If you think it takes patience to teach your dog to roll over, imagine how you teach birds to perform in front of a live audience. Well, the Los Angeles Zoo has done it and we thought we'd take our camera there to get a behind-the-scenes look at how they get our feathered friends to cooperate.

John Guenther>> My name is John Guenther and I've been in charge of the bird show here for about seven years. I've been at the zoo for almost ten. I've got the greatest job.

[Film Clip]

John Guenther>> We have people coming to the show just hoping that they're in the show that the condor is going to be at, so it's pretty impressive and it gives -- you know, if we could do something that really impresses the audience and the kids, that they take away with them and remember, you know, that's what we're after.

[Film Clip]

John Guenther>> I can remember being a child, being at a bird show, and going up afterwards and talking to the guy that has just flown his Prairie Falcon and in just awe, you know. Now to have that role be reversed for me, I feel very fortunate.

[Film Clip]

John Guenther>> The raven routine is a great example of a routine that just allows us to demonstrate the intelligence of a raven being the smartest bird in the world and also give the children a chance to come up on stage and interact and be a part of demonstrating how smart these ravens are.

>> "Okay, Alex. You find a good hiding place, whichever side you want. Tuck it way back into the bushes where we can't see it because, if we can see it, then Blackjack for sure can see it. Oh, he's looking for it, Alex. I don't know. I think he may have spotted it. He's got it. There's no stumping him."

John Guenther>> Cheeks is our Goffin cockatoo and she's been doing the show for so long.

>> "I need the help of an adult volunteer with a dollar bill."

John Guenther>> She gets a dollar from one of the audience members.

>> "Keep your arm nice and level for me. Most importantly, for this whole routine, keep your eyes on me. All right. Everyone else, please keep your hands in your laps and your eyes focused on top of the temple. Appearing will be Cheeks, our Goffin cockatoo."

[Film Clip]

>> "Grab the cash, Cheeks. What do you do with it? Thank you. You enjoy the rest of the show (laughter). I need an adult volunteer with a twenty dollar bill who would like to work with . . ."

John Guenther>> Learning about some of the natural behaviors that these birds possess just gives you a greater appreciation for how unique they all are.

>> "All the way back up to Mimi. Thank you very much for helping us out. One more time, folks. That's Cheeks, our Goffin cockatoo."

John Guenther>> We can all go home and realize that we're not on this planet by ourselves and that we do have to share it and, hopefully for generations to come, this planet will still be here for the wildlife as well as ourselves.

[Film Clip]

>> "And beautifully done."

Val Zavala>> It's a stunning gift from overseas given to the United States on its two hundredth birthday. Yet most Angelenos don't even know it's there, maybe because it's only rung four times a year. It sits on a hill with one of the most magnificent views of the Pacific in all of southern California. Stately and elegant, it's a touch of Korea right here in San Pedro.

This is the Korean Friendship Bell in Angels Gate Park, a stunning twelve foot bell under an elaborate pagoda. The bell was a gift of the Republic of Korea to the United States on America's two hundredth birthday. I talked with Steve Cho from the California State Military Reserves and Phil Orland with the City Parks and Recreation Department about this unusual gift.

Steve Cho>> I think this facility is to have not only friendship, but keep our freedom throughout the world.

Phillip Orland>> It's a symbol of freedom, it's a symbol of friendship and, you know, just like the Liberty Bell.

Steve Cho>> They wanted to have Statue of Liberty and statue of oppression. They designed a big philosophy in the bell, whoever designed it. I mean, I wasn't involved, but this is what it is.

Val Zavala>> The bell was made in Korea, patterned after a bell cast back in 771 by King Seongdeok. Not since the eighth century had such a large bell been cast in Korea. The seventeen-ton bell was then shipped across the ocean along with more than thirty Korean craftsmen. For six months, they lived and worked at Port MacArthur in Angels Gate Park building the pagoda that would house the bell.

Steve Cho>> Back in 1976, we had about a four thousand audience at the dedication event. Back in 2002, the first anniversary of 9/11, Jim Hahn wanted to have some of the city of Los Angeles all the way out here to commemorate those people that were lost, so we had a big event here.

Val Zavala>> A ceremonial ringing of the bell only happens four times a year.

Phillip Orland>> One is Fourth of July, one is New Years Eve, one is Korean Independence Day and then the Daughters of the American Revolution have a ceremony for Constitution Day.

Val Zavala>> We were lucky. They made an exception for us and, in a moment, you'll get to hear what the twelve-foot, seventeen-ton Friendship Bell sounds like. The bell doesn't have a clapper. Instead, it is struck by a large wooden log. The bowl underneath the bell and the opening at the top create a reverberating sound that they say can be heard over a wide area and lasts for several minutes.

Steve Cho>> And whoever rings, they have white gloves. Only white gloves. That's a tradition. So three people on one side, three people one side. The reason I limit that to three is because we don't want somebody to get caught in fingers and get hurt.

Val Zavala>> We all got in place for the big moment.

Steve Cho>> Are you ready? Okay, this is what we're going to do. One, two, ---, now we shake hands like that (laughter).

Val Zavala>> Oh, that's the friendship (laughter).

Steve Cho>> So we have three Korean community leaders, three Los Angeles citizens, to symbolize.

Val Zavala>> I can feel it still going.

Steve Cho>> Oh, yeah.

>> It's still resonating.

Val Zavala>> I could feel the deep vibrations still resonating in the metal.

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> Los Angeles was chosen as the site of the Friendship Bell because it is the gateway to the Pacific and home of the largest Korean community in the United States. Steve Cho hopes it will become as well known on the west coast as the Statue of Liberty is on the east coast.

Steve Cho>> This facility is not only for friendship. It's for everything. Peace, freedom, especially as we stand strong to maintain our culture strong and keep the peace in the rest of the world. I think that's what it is.

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> The next official ringing of the Korean Friendship Bell will be August 15 on Korean Independence Day. For more information, you can go to sanpedro.com.

And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Sponsored in part by:


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