Historic Buildings

The building that houses one of Southern California's last remaining cafeteria restaurants is going up for sale. And although the family that owns Clifton's Cafeteria intends to stay open for business, the historic restaurant is facing some serious financial challenges. There was a time when the cafeteria was the undisputed king of Southern California dining. Before World War II, the cheap food and sprawling dining halls brought together strangers to the region and created lasting bonds.

The landmark Sears, Roebuck & Co. building in East Los Angeles is back on the market after a final purchase agreement with popular boxer Oscar De La Hoya and his partners was not reached by year end, the owner said Tuesday. De La Hoya's team acknowledged plans last summer to acquire the 23-acre property on Olympic Boulevard for about $70 million and turn it into a housing and shopping complex.

A woman whose historic Ontario home faces foreclosure was evicted after city officials said they caught her selling its period flooring, baseboards and other fixtures on the Internet. A Superior Court judge granted the city a warrant last week to vacate and secure the classic Mediterranean Revival home, locking out owner Kim Shewalter. "They changed the locks," said Shewalter, 46, who let her home go into foreclosure after her mortgage payments adjusted to $6,500 a month.

This city's historic landmarks include the majestic St. James Cathedral, the elegant Paramount Theatre and, best-known of all, the towering syringe known as the Space Needle. Soon this list may include a Denny's. This month, a city board opened the way to give historic landmark status to a recently closed Denny's restaurant in northwest Seattle, a decision that has left some questioning the city's selection process.

Ending perhaps its most contentious battle over a new campus, the Los Angeles Unified School District will pay $4 million to fund historic school conservation in exchange for the Los Angeles Conservancy dropping a lawsuit that sought to preserve the once-glitzy Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the former Ambassador Hotel. "We still continue to believe that it was feasible to save the hotel," said Linda Dishman, the conservancy's executive director.

Frank Lloyd Wright had a radical idea for low-cost construction when Alice Millard, a rare-book dealer and antiques collector, commissioned him to design a house in Pasadena. He would use concrete blocks, "the cheapest (and ugliest) thing in the building world," the architect wrote in his autobiography. "Why not see what could be done with that gutter-rat?"

Makingson Delivrance Mespoulous runs his fingers along a worn-smooth column holding up the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral that has presided in Gothic splendor over Paris for eight centuries, his face dusted white from stone shavings. The 34-year-old stone carver has spent the last 11 years restoring the stained-black arches and nose-less gargoyles of some of France's favorite, but crumbling, monuments.

Take a trip to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and you're bound to encounter some impressive bone structures. Popular tenants include the Tyrannosaurus rex and a complete cast of the long-necked Mamenchisaurus. But the biggest dinosaur is perhaps the building itself -- a hulking, fossilized fortress from a bygone era.

In the beige linoleum hallway, a fluorescent light flickers on and off as a woman saunters over to visit her neighbor. The elevator creaks and whines, then frees a gaggle of giggling girls. Downstairs in the laundry room, a young mother sorts her children's clothes, enjoying the room's warmth on a blustery day. But for this west Bronx apartment building's residents, the comfort of home may not last.

U2's Bono helped persuade President Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to increase African aid and cancel a portion of Third World debt. But Ireland's most famous rock star is finding it harder to charm Dublin preservationists as he seeks to expand the 177-year-old Clarence Hotel. The singer failed to win over opponents with several bottles of wine and lunch at the Clarence in September, said Michael Smith, former chairman of An Taisce, an independent planning watchdog.