Southwest Museum will no longer merge with Autry

Merger of Western museums fall apart.
(From the San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, August 14, 2009):

“The merger between cowboys and Indians was supposed to enhance two Los Angeles museums of the American West.

But the dust-up between the Autry National Center and defenders of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian has left a $175 million museum expansion dead and the city’s oldest museum gravely wounded.

After negotiations with the city to safeguard the Southwest Museum in Mount Washington failed, the Autry this week shelved plans for its grand expansion in Griffith Park.”

Click here to read the full article.

Another Win for La Laguna de San Gabriel!

The La Laguna project wins a second award – the CPF Preservation Design Award in the Cultural Resource Studies, Reports category!

"Monster Park" La Laguna de San Gabriel
"Monster Park" La Laguna de San Gabriel. Photo by Garavaglia Architecture, Inc.

The La Laguna project has just been honored with another award! This time it’s the Preservation Design Award from the California Preservation Foundation in the Cultural Resource Studies & Reports category. Garavaglia Architecture produced the Historic Structures Report and Preservation Plan for the Friends of La Laguna this past year. The same project was just recently awarded a Los Angeles Conservancy Award earlier this Spring. Congratulations again to the team!

Entrance Sign to the Park

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For more information see also the timeline and navigate to the year 1963.

Johnny Cash Tribute & BBQ at Preston Castle

Ambrose Wong visited the Preston Castle for a Johnny Cash Tribute & BBQ event. Garavaglia Architecture has provided consulting services to the Foundation. The Castle is located in Ione, CA.

Preston Castle in Ione, CA.
Preston Castle in Ione, CA. Photo by Sarah Hahn.

Our project manager, Ambrose Wong, headed to a fun concert at Preston Castle this past weekend. The event was hosted by the Preston Castle Foundation and featured a Johnny Cash tribute band with James Garner. Ambrose says, the evening started off with a tri-tip barbecue and just “became better with the start of the music.” The event was a musical journey of Johnny Cash’s hits performed in the same style that they were originally performed. As the day came to a close, the bats came out and the resident white owl made its evening flight from the tower up lit by the building’s lights.

Preston Castle is a brick and stone Richardsonian Romanesque building constructed on land that was purchased from the Ione Coal & Iron Company to house the Preston School of Industry, established by the State Legislature to rehabilitate juvenile offenders. It served as the administrative building and is one of over a dozen associated buildings on the site.

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