Cultural Heritage

L.A. is facing a cultural crisis of sorts. The Banana Museum in Altadena is for sale. The Lone Ranger Museum in Downey is gone, as is the Foot and Toe Museum of Long Beach. And there have been no sightings of the Bigfoot Museum, last glimpsed in Venice. So, I'm happy to report that the Bunny Museum in Pasadena was recently recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the home of the most bunny collectibles: 8,437. They'll be open free to the public on St.

When British authorities the other day denied an export license for a 15th-century Flemish manuscript acquired last December by the J. Paul Getty Museum at a London auction, few could have been surprised. Stopping the export of exceptional works of art from the United Kingdom is business as usual for the government's catch-all Department for Culture, Media and Sport . Why? Often, as in this particular case, for no defensible reason. ART: Can you guess the high price?

Two Ventura County supervisors want to establish a countywide cultural heritage board to advise local officials on historical preservation. Supervisors Maria VanderKolk and Vicky Howard are calling for county and city leaders to set up the panel to oversee efforts to maintain historical landmarks. "There is a tendency for some communities to think (preservation) is not important at all," Howard said. "I think this will be a help."

A broad-scale plan to preserve the nation's cultural heritage captured on sound recordings and to make more than a century's worth of recorded materials more widely available for educational purposes is being unveiled Wednesday at the Library of Congress in Washington. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, was scheduled to introduce the library's comprehensive National Recording Preservation Plan, the library's response to Congress' passing of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000.

Africans slip into villages to hack bronze plaques from doors and steal statues from shrines, replacing colonizers as looters of the continent's antiquities. They sell the plunder to collectors abroad. "Next to drugs, trading in cultural property--in our heritage--is the highest item on the list of illegal trafficking, and Nigeria is the biggest victim in Africa," said Ade Obayemi, director of museums and monuments in this West African nation.

The right side of Saidur Hawa's sari slipped, exposing a scar that looked like hot wax dripping over her shoulder. There were slash lines above her breast, pale marks like chalk-white thread on her skin. She blushed and covered up quickly. "My husband wanted a second wife, and I said no. We fought and he took a razor and he slashed me. . . . But I won the fight because in the end he changed his mind. I am the only wife." Saidur, now 21, was only 12 at the time of the attack.

Los Angeles' cultural heritage operation is coming under full city scrutiny after the first steps were taken by a City Council committee Monday afternoon to upgrade efforts to preserve landmarks. Among the issues being considered is the transfer of the cultural heritage function itself from the Cultural Affairs Department under general manager Fred Croton to the Planning Department under longtime director Calvin Hamilton.

The small group of well-dressed men and women gathered on a West 25th Street sidewalk were an odd sight as they stood scratching themselves, stamping their feet and slapping their sleeves. "I don't think we ever had a flea attack before," one of them, Helen Madrid-Worthen, murmured as she inspected her dress for telltale black specks. "Remember that house where to get in we had to climb the ladder that broke?"

As you puff your way up a steep stretch of Calle Sagarnaga in downtown La Paz, if the high-altitude climb doesn't slow you down, the handicrafts will. Little shops offer a dizzying variety of sweaters and caps knitted in alpaca and wool, rugs and ponchos woven with multicolored patterns, elaborate ceremonial devil-masks, wood carvings, intricate silver jewelry and other articles that reflect centuries of Andean culture and skills.

The chairman of the commission that selects the city's landmarks appears to be a resident of Malibu and not Los Angeles--in violation of residency requirements for city commissioners. And records show that he is registered to vote from his Los Angeles business address, in apparent violation of that state election code. Amarjit S. Marwah, 63, one of Mayor Tom Bradley's largest campaign contributors, was appointed by Bradley to the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission in 1981.

The Caravelle Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City , Vietnam , is celebrating the city's cultural heritage with a package that includes a performance at the neighboring Saigon Opera House. The four-day, three-night "Opera Nights" package installs guests in the hotel's Opera Suite, overlooking Lam Son Square and the opera house, where guests will attend a performance of "Hon Viet” ("Soul of Vietnam”). Before the program, guests will have dinner in the hotel's fine-dining restaurant, Reflections.

Down the narrow corridor that runs through one of California's oldest neighborhoods, behind the perfectly preserved 200-year-old houses, the source of a heated debate in San Juan Capistrano pokes out his leathery neck with a goofy smile. The city resting amid south Orange County's green-covered hills is known for its tight embrace of a rich history: Hundreds of horses march through the streets each year to welcome the swallows' expected return to the mission; an old-world Spanish motif of stucco walls and terra cotta roofs includes even burger joints and banks; and on historic Los Rios Street, there are strict rules about what belongs and what doesn't.

The magnitude 6.0 earthquake that hit northern Italy early Sunday has claimed the lives of six people and has caused widespread damage. Among the most badly hit sites were a number of cultural heritage structures, according to reports. Italy's cultural ministry said that "after an initial survey, damage to cultural patrimony appears significant. " One of the hardest hit areas was San Felice sul Panaro, a town near Bologna, which saw serious damage to a 14th century castle and to churches that housed valuable paintings and frescoes.

Responding to the demolition of such local icons as the Friars Club, Pickfair and John Lautner's Shusett House, the city of Beverly Hills has adopted a historic preservation ordinance that seeks to protect noteworthy structures. Prompted in part by an aborted plan to raze Richard Neutra's Kronish House, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve new rules for demolishing or altering structures at least 45 years old and designed by a city-recognized architect. The council also approved the creation of a landmark designation process and a five-person Cultural Heritage Commission.

Ask any forcado why he stands unarmed in front of a charging bull and he'll tell you he's crazy. Anyone watching would have to agree. The Portuguese-style bullfighters don't use spears or swords. They rely instead on brotherhood and synchronized steps. They don't try to kill the 1,100-pound animal. They jump on its head, pull its tail and spin it into a dizzy stupor. The forcados make their stand in festa bravas (bullfights) in the dusty dairy towns of Central California, places like Stevinson, Gustine and Laton, where the Azores islanders live.

The independence-minded region of Catalonia on Wednesday became the first on the Spanish mainland to outlaw bullfighting, a move some say is as much about nationalist politics as animal rights. Lawmakers in Catalonia's regional parliament approved the controversial ban, 68-55, with nine abstentions, after emotional speeches that mixed expressions of support for preserving tradition with denunciations of bullfighting as institutionalized cruelty. The ban will take effect in the region, of which Barcelona is the capital, in 2012.

Los Angeles cultural heritage officials are waging a last-ditch effort to save Hollywood's Ontra Cafeteria from the wrecking ball. The fate of the abandoned cafe now lies in the hands of the City Council, following a protracted legal tussle between the building's owners and the city Cultural Heritage Commission.

Mestre Didi, the leader of an Afro-Brazilian cult of the dead, is a 6th-generation descendant of African slaves. He has traced his ancestors back across the South Atlantic, visited their West African homelands and learned the archaic Yoruba language they spoke. Like Mestre Didi, more than half of Brazil's 145 million people have African ancestors.

On a back street in urban Cleveland, Hungarian immigrants built St. Emeric Catholic Church, where a dozen stained glass windows recall their history and a mural of their first king, St. Stephen, overlooks the altar. For more than 100 years, waves of Hungarians swept into Cleveland from the wars and upheavals in Europe, finding work in the area's steel mills and auto plants. They were part of a tide of Eastern Europeans who became a backbone of the industrial economy here. But the factories have been closing in recent decades, and now the churches are closing too. Under orders of Cleveland Bishop Richard Gerard Lennon, St. Emeric parish will be eliminated and the church, along with an adjoining Hungarian Boy Scout center and a cultural school, will be closed.

Sweet. Los Angeles officials are taking steps to commemorate the city's confectionery culture, just in time for Valentine's Day. Members of the Cultural Heritage Commission agreed Thursday to consider designating the original home of See's Candies, near Western Avenue and Beverly Boulevard, as a historic landmark. Nomination papers calling for recognition of the first See's candy kitchen and retail shop were filed at City Hall in an empty 5-pound See's box by candy lover Charlene Nichols.