Save the Historic Adams Hill Gas Station! (Continued)

Trying to do my part to save the historic gas station in our 'hood, I took my rants to the Glendale News-Press today. The paper published my letter to the editor -- the first time I'd written to a newspaper since my senior year in high school, when I sent something to the Honolulu Advertiser.

Here's my screed:



Editor:
I continue to be surprised by the Adams Square Merchants Assn.'s call to tear down the classic 1930s gas station at the corner of Adams and Palmer. The gas station and the Adams Square building are the two structures that give the neighborhood its art-deco/early century appeal -- an appeal that is central to drawing both residents and non-residents alike to shop in the neighborhood.

Without both structures, Adams Square becomes simply another random selection of stores with no identity. And it destroys some of the character that convinced Los Angeles magazine to highlight the neighborhood in its January 2005 issue. Rather than striving to be ordinary, the Merchants Assn. should be celebrating the fact that Adams Square boasts a unique structure that is, remarkably, still standing. And instead of trying to tear something down, the organization should perhaps channel that energy and instead focus on filling the area's long-vacant storefronts -- including the historic birthplace of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain, which has sat empty for far too long.

Ooh, shnap! Take that, Adams Square Merchants Assn.!

OK, so it wasn't such a withering indictment. But hey, still doing my part.