Landmarks

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.

Financial woes have derailed the development of Chinatown Blossom Plaza, a long-awaited $162-million apartment and retail complex set to rise on the former site of one of Los Angeles' most beloved downtown eateries. The developer of the project, which was to replace the shuttered Little Joe's restaurant in Chinatown, on Thursday filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to prevent its lender from foreclosing on the property at Broadway and College Street.

Los Angeles police have discovered that the shuttered Channel 13 studios on La Brea Avenue in Hollywood had become a haven for squatters. Officers found squalid conditions inside the landmark building, including discarded hypodermic needles, piles of trash, makeshift bedding in office cubicles and human filth on the floors and walls. "I was disgusted.

Few Hollywood stars work harder -- or cheaper -- than Los Angeles City Hall. "Mission Impossible III." "Evan Almighty." Now showing at a theater near you, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." All have had scenes play out across the landmark's stately chambers, portrait-lined corridors and grand stairways. Yet this publicly financed box-office favorite receives not a penny in return. Call it the price of being an architectural icon in one of the world's foremost entertainment capitals.

He's saddled up with his feet in the stirrups and his hands on the reins. After 24 years, is it time for John Wayne to ride out of Beverly Hills and into the sunset in Newport Beach? That question was weighing heavily -- about 6 tons in all -- at Wilshire Boulevard and Hamilton Drive on Thursday as word came that a landmark statue of the Duke might be uprooted and moved to Orange County.

Thousands of drivers pass over them every day as they cross the Los Angeles River -- 11 iconic bridges that link downtown to the neighborhoods and freeways lying east. Unless traffic is bumper to bumper, it's hard to appreciate their ornate splendor, the graceful Greek columns on the Olympic Boulevard Bridge or the Classical towers along the span at 4th Street.

Fire destroyed a 610-year-old landmark that was considered South Korea's top national treasure, officials said today. Police said the cause of the blaze was unclear, but one official said arson was suspected. The fire broke out Sunday night and burned down the wooden structure at the top of Namdaemun, or "Great South Gate," which once formed part of a wall that encircled the capital.

We've only just begun . . . to learn what is happening to the Downey family home that was made world-famous by the pop duo the Carpenters. The five-bedroom tract house and a smaller next-door dwelling that was connected to it by an enclosed walkway was where Richard and Karen Carpenter fine-tuned their greatest hits in the 1970s. The pair lived in the main house with their parents. The adjoining house was something of an annex, where there was an office, rehearsal studio and recreation room.

It was the 1950s. America was a superpower, and the Los Angeles area was the center of it. The space race was on. A car culture was emerging. So were millions of postwar babies. Businesses needed ways to get families out of their automobiles and into coffee shops, bowling alleys, gas stations and motels. They needed bright signs and designs showing that the future was now. They needed color and new ideas. They needed Googie.

After years of false starts and construction delays, the fabled Malibu Pier -- or at least part of it -- will reopen today. Built in 1905, the structure has been the scene of TV and movie filming ("The Rockford Files," "Gidget," "Beach Blanket Bingo") and celebrity sportfishing. It was used as a World War II lookout post. Later, Alice's Restaurant (inspired by the Arlo Guthrie song) served its famous B-52 cocktail to droves of visitors.