New Skirball exhibit explores the history and meaning of Jewish delis
From SpectrumNews1: “I’ll Have What She’s Having” is a classic line from the film “When Harry Met Sally” and is also now the name of a new exhibit about Jewish delis at the Skirball Cultural Center.
Lara Rabinovitch, Laura Mart and Cate Thurston have been working on the exhibit for the past five years. The trio of co-curators traveled the country doing some delicious research.
“We ate pastrami and matzo ball soup at delis across the country from Langer’s to Shapiro’s in Indianapolis to Katz’s in New York City and many, many more,” Mart said.
City Council votes to designate Woolworth’s Diner as historic landmark
From BakersfieldNow.com: BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — It was once a busy lunch counter, now it’s a quiet time capsule.
Longtime local favorite and tourist stop Woolworth’s Diner has been closed since January. Wednesday, the Bakersfield City Council voted to designate the site as a Cultural Resource.
Ward 2 City Councilmember Andrae Gonzales says, not only is the Woolworth Building here to stay, it’ll soon be back and better than ever.
Neon Museum still seeks to expand. Only somewhere else.
The exterior of the The Neon Museum, formerly the La Concha hotel lobby, in Las Vegas, on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. Architect Paul R. Williams designed was the original designer of the hotel lobby. (Erik Verduzco / Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Erik_Verduzco
From the Las Vegas Review-Journal: The Neon Museum, the outdoor memorial to vintage and flashy Las Vegas signage, may expand some day.
But that plan no longer involves the city-owned Reed Whipple Cultural Center, as pandemic-related impacts and new obligations from a recent national accreditation proved to be too much to overcome to proceed with a proposal signed off on in 2019.
The project, launched prior to the COVID-19 crisis under previous museum leadership, had called for the museum to double its footprint on Las Vegas Boulevard by entering the old cultural center across the street from the museum’s main Neon Boneyard.
But nearly three years after the plan was approved, the museum and city of Las Vegas on Wednesday ended an agreement that provided the museum with grant funding to support expansion operations into the vacant building.
The kitschy Silver Sands Motel sells after years-long battle
Silver Sands Motel and Beach Cottages via Facebook
From The Real Deal: A 1950s-era motel on Long Island’s North Fork that has been seemingly frozen in time has changed ownership after a 12-year battle over control of its beachfront property.
Newsday reported that the Silver Sands Motel and Cottages in Greenport, whose inviting neon sign and kitschy drive-up rooms have miraculously retained their nuclear-age charm, was sold on Wednesday for an unspecified price that, according to a local real estate agent was the “No. 1 commercial transaction on the North Fork.”
“It is like no other piece of real estate on the North Fork,” Judi Desiderio, CEO of Town & Country Real Estate in East Hampton, told the newspaper. “It is a piece of history … it’s an amazing property.”
Demolition of Utah Theater set to start Tuesday as judge rejects a final-hour effort to save it
The Main Street facade of the Utah Theater in downtown Salt Lake City, as seen on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Demolition of the venue could begin Tuesday. (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
From The Salt Lake Tribune: Developers have crews ready to start tearing down the Utah Theater in downtown Salt Lake City as early as Tuesday after a judge rejected emergency legal moves by historic preservationists to block demolition.
Third District Judge Robert Faust denied a temporary restraining order sought by a group called Friends of the Utah Pantages Cinematic Theatre, effectively clearing a Utah subcontractor for Texas-based Hines to begin leveling the century-old performance hall on Main Street.
The group’s members had scrambled Sunday to file the last-ditch request after an attorney for Hines filed papers Friday saying that the city had issued its permit for razing the dilapidated theater “earlier than expected.”
Neon Pegasus sign on top of Magnolia Hotel in Dallas in need of urgent repair
CITY OF DALLAS HISTORIC PRESERVATION
From CBSDFW.COM: DALLAS — The 15-ton neon Pegasus sign sitting on top of the Magnolia Hotel in Downtown Dallas is in danger of falling.
The problem is not the sign itself, but the base, It is about 90 years old and rusted over. Experts told the Dallas City Council on Wednesday they don’t know how long the Pegasus has, and that it could fall at any time, mostly due to strong winds and its age.
Although its on top of the hotel, the sign is owned by the city. The council approved more than $357,000 to fix the corrosion and stabilize the base, but not after an hour-long debate on whether the city should be responsible for the cost.