Historic Sites

Sixty-three years after she burned, rolled over and was sunk in the waters just outside San Pedro Harbor, the Johanna Smith is still making waves. The double-hulled wooden ship, built to haul lumber, sank in 1932 after serving three years as one of the notorious gambling ships that prowled the waters off Los Angeles. Today, what's left of her is forcing the Army Corps of Engineers to consider rerouting its plans to dredge the harbor.

The State Historical Resources Commission has agreed to keep the Golden Gate Theater in the National Register of Historic Places, almost ensuring that the theater will be protected from demolition. The commission will forward its unanimous recommendation, along with the owners' request to have the historical designation removed, to the keeper of the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C., who will make a final decision on the designation within two months.

You've read the book. Maybe you've even seen the movie. But nothing quite prepares you for your first glimpse of the bookcase. The bookcase, in Amsterdam, is the one that served to disguise the entrance to what Anne Frank called the "Secret Annex" deep within Prinsengracht 263, a four-story brick row house on a quiet canal in the heart of the city.

Though the Anne Frank House is the most popular and visible symbol of Jewish life in Amsterdam, several other sites offer a fascinating glimpse into the city's Jewish history. The great brown Portuguese Synagogue, built in 1675, and the nearby Jewish Historical Museum are both in the heart of former Jewish Amsterdam, in the neighborhood around Mr. Visserplein, southeast of the city center.

The state Historical Resources Commission will hold a special meeting today in Long Beach to discuss the cultural resources affected by the development of the Bolsa Chica mesa. The informational meeting is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. in the City Council chambers, 333 W. Ocean Blvd. Among topics to be discussed is the historic value of the World War II artillery bunker on the mesa, which faces demolition as part of the Koll Real Estate Group's plans for a 3,300-home development there.

In yet another setback for the repeatedly stalled Long Beach Freeway extension, the U.S. Department of Interior, citing the designation of a new historic district in El Sereno along the highway's corridor, has recommended an additional environmental assessment of the route. In a Wednesday letter to federal highway administrator Rodney Slater, Interior officials said the additional report is necessary because of a Nov.

If you've only seen the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, you haven't done justice to Independence National Historical Park. * This national park, scattered around the heart of the city, offers more historic treasures than can be discovered in an entire day. Park superintendent Martha Aikens calls the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall "international icons that people travel from all over the world to see."

The desert canyon is long, sandy and bare. At its edges, stone cliffs of red and orange rise 2,000 feet into the sky. The wind races. Along a lonely two-lane road, a few dozen yellow-shirted bicyclists wheeze past on a ride for charity, modern anomalies crawling through the ancient world at 10 m.p.h. So far, you could be in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico.

Caltrans unveiled plans Wednesday to shift a portion of the proposed Long Beach Freeway extension west, saving 154 dwellings, including historic sites, from being razed but targeting 88 other houses for demolition.

State and federal highway officials are proposing that the much-delayed Long Beach Freeway extension be rerouted for a small stretch to bypass a newly designated El Sereno historic neighborhood that sits in the roadway's path and threatens to block its construction.