Preservation

UCLA Festival of Preservation Where: Billy Wilder Theater, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood Contact: (310) 206-8013 or http://www.cinema.ucla.edu Screenings at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted Thursday : "Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" Friday : "The Goose Woman," "Eve's Leaves" Saturday : "The Girl Who Dared," "Rendezvous With Annie" (2 p.m.); "Sleep, My Love," "Strangers in the Night" Sunday : Highlighting the Outfest Legacy Project (2 p.m.)

HONG KONG - Strung up in the Sunbeam Theatre in a gritty working-class part of this city are posters showing Cantonese opera singers, their red lips offset by chalk-white, made-up faces. In the faded lobby, where theatergoers mill on a Saturday afternoon, dozens of bouquets with handwritten messages are dedicated to the stars by fans. For four decades, this theater in North Point on Hong Kong Island has been one of the last remaining stalwarts for Cantonese opera in the city. But its existence is by no means guaranteed.

Festival of Preservation Where: Billy Wilder Theater, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. When: Friday through March 30 Price: $10 per screening; $50 for festival pass Information: (310) 206-8013; http://www.cinema.ucla.edu Full schedule is as follows: Screenings at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. March 1 - "Gun Crazy" March 2 at 4 p.m. - Celebrating Laurel & Hardy At 7:30 p.m. - "Mantrap" March 3 at 7 p.m. - "The Battle of Russia" March 4 - "Try and Get Me," "Repeat Performance" March 8 - "The Final War of Olly Winter" March 9 at 4 p.m. - "Anders Als Die Anderen" At 7:30 p.m. - "Eadweard Muybridge," Paper Prints From the Library of Congress March 10 at 4 p.m. - "International House," "Temple Tower" At 7 p.m. - "The Chase," "High Tide" March 11 - "Johnny Come Lately," "The Inside Story" March 14 - "Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel With the World," "The Face of Genius" March 15 - "With the Greeks in the Firing Line" March 16 at 4 p.m. - "October Story," "The Belle of Amherst" At 7:30 p.m. - "That Cold Day in the Park" March 17 at 7 p.m. - Short Subjects March 18 - "The Argonauts of California-1849" March 22 - "The Snake in My Bed" March 23 at 4 p.m. - "Noon Wine," "The Human Voice" At 7:30 p.m. - "Thirty Day Princess," "The Working Man" March 24 at 4 p.m. - "Ornette: Made in America" At 7 p.m. - Hearst Metrotone and the...

Bird watchers angered by the destruction of 43 acres of a former wildlife preserve at Sepulveda Basin got a promise from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday that it wouldn't remove any more vegetation until at least mid-September. Tomas Beauchamp, a corps spokesman, told the Los Angeles City Council that further work on the so-called South Reserve, south of Burbank Boulevard and north to the base of the dam, is on hold, in part because nesting birds have been discovered in the habitat.

I've never met an American who didn't have a soft spot in his heart for Thomas Jefferson and Monticello, his home and plantation in Charlottesville. After his term as president expired in 1809, Jefferson lived full time at Monticello. The house, which Jefferson called "his essay in architecture," is a testament to his genius. The 11,000-square-foot neoclassical mansion has 21 rooms, and from the moment you set foot in the reception and waiting room, with its grass-green floor and museum-like exhibits of natural history specimens, Native American and African artifacts, you know are in the domain of a man of taste, knowledge and broad interests.

Marian Gibbons deserves the front page of the March 6 real estate section for her outstanding service to the historic and architectural preservation community. Marian is one of those individuals who will help, however, whenever and wherever, to get the job done. She's practical and self-effacing. In a very real way she has helped the economy of Hollywood and metropolitan Los Angeles. We're just one of the many small businesses devoted to architectural preservation that have benefited from her enthusiasm and insights.

In Bill Desowitz's article about the restoration of "Vertigo" (Film Clips, June 16), Robert Harris and James Katz say that "North by Northwest" and the 1959 version of "Ben-Hur" are in need of restoration. Both of these pictures were produced by MGM and are now owned by Turner Entertainment Co. Unlike some of the other pictures Harris and Katz have restored, the negatives and sound masters of these pictures have been carefully inventoried and stored since their inception. Harris and Katz have done wonderful work on a number of pictures, but proper preservation reduces the need for restoration, and we are currently able to make first-class prints of these pictures.

By restoring some 1920s bungalow courts slated for demolition, the Hollywood Community Housing Corp. created homes for low-income people with special needs. Now that work is being recognized with a Los Angeles Conservancy Preservation Award. The Hollywood Bungalow Courts project is one of eight that the conservancy recognized. One other residential project, the Rudolph Schindler Bubeshko Apartments in Silver Lake, also was honored. In Hollywood, three bungalow courts on Serrano Avenue were to be replaced with condominiums, but the Community Redevelopment Agency stepped in, and they were spared, along with a bungalow court on Kingsley Drive.

The staff of the Victorian Register and I sincerely appreciate Diane Kanner's well-written article, "They Specialize in Homes With Pedigrees" (April 6). Victorian Register markets properties throughout the Los Angeles area, as well as out of state. Pasadena, Pomona or Big Bear, for example, are communities where we have--or had--outstanding properties in a variety of architectural styles. Out of state, we are working with the sellers of a Frank Lloyd Wright in Wisconsin, an 1888 Victorian estate in Illinois and a former governor's residence in Nevada.

The Calabasas Historical Society strongly urges the preservation of the Pierce College farm as a most valuable and significant historical landmark. Creative approaches which can be implemented immediately will result in increasing prosperity for the college. The preservation of the farm will benefit the entire community. Its citizens do feel they have a vested interest in seeing that the farm is maintained and improved as a living green area. Oxygen and food are essential for human life.

The UCLA Film & Television Archive's Festival of Preservation turns its spotlight on the small screen with a tribute Saturday to the television work of an award-winning actress and a celebration March 23 of an acclaimed but short-lived ABC anthology series. Julie Harris has won five Tony Awards and is best known to film fans for her role as James Dean's character's love interest in 1955's "East of Eden. " During the 1950s, she was one of the superstars of live drama anthologies. One of her earliest TV appearances, in the1951 Goodyear Television Playhouse "October Story," screens Saturday afternoon at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood.

I got a clue even before my column ran this week that its subject - what "Negro" means these days - might make some folks uncomfortable. I'd pulled up to the valet stand at the Hilton and waited while the young man fumbled through the standard question about the evening's event. "You're here for the United … uh, United … uh, the College Fund dinner?" he asked. Yes. The United Negro College Fund. He'd managed to leave that word out. I understand why it flummoxed him. By the time he was born, we'd moved past that to "black" and on to "African American.

SACRAMENTO - Over the last decade, millions of public dollars intended for wildlife preservation areas were spent off the books on state office needs, equipment and building construction, among other items, officials said Thursday. Last year alone, at least $1.7 million was diverted from California's Wildlife Restoration Fund to pay for office operations, routine bills and gift cards for official use, according to Mike Taugher, a spokesman for the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Festival of Preservation Where: Billy Wilder Theater, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. When: Friday through March 30 Price: $10 per screening; $50 for festival pass Information: (310) 206-8013; http://www.cinema.ucla.edu Full schedule is as follows: Screenings at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. March 1 - "Gun Crazy" March 2 at 4 p.m. - Celebrating Laurel & Hardy At 7:30 p.m. - "Mantrap" March 3 at 7 p.m. - "The Battle of Russia" March 4 - "Try and Get Me," "Repeat Performance" March 8 - "The Final War of Olly Winter" March 9 at 4 p.m. - "Anders Als Die Anderen" At 7:30 p.m. - "Eadweard Muybridge," Paper Prints From the Library of Congress March 10 at 4 p.m. - "International House," "Temple Tower" At 7 p.m. - "The Chase," "High Tide" March 11 - "Johnny Come Lately," "The Inside Story" March 14 - "Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel With the World," "The Face of Genius" March 15 - "With the Greeks in the Firing Line" March 16 at 4 p.m. - "October Story," "The Belle of Amherst" At 7:30 p.m. - "That Cold Day in the Park" March 17 at 7 p.m. - Short Subjects March 18 - "The Argonauts of California-1849" March 22 - "The Snake in My Bed" March 23 at 4 p.m. - "Noon Wine," "The Human Voice" At 7:30 p.m. - "Thirty Day Princess," "The Working Man" March 24 at 4 p.m. - "Ornette: Made in America" At 7 p.m. - Hearst Metrotone and the...

I love the smell of preservation in the morning. The rest of the day, too, if it comes to that. So it's a pleasure to announce that the UCLA Film and Television Archive's one-of-a-kind Festival of Preservation opens for business Friday night with a knockout new print of one of the killer classics of film noir, Joseph H. Lewis' "Gun Crazy. " It's too bad the concept of preservation has such a musty sound, because what it means in practice is that today's audiences can experience the most unusual, the most entertaining and exciting treasures from the entire range of cinema's past, all brought back to life by the archive's team of crack preservationists.

Before production began on 20th Century Fox's "Life of Pi," director Ang Lee led his cast and crew through a Chinese ritual that has become a tradition marking the first day of each of his film shoots. Arrayed on a table near a soundstage in Taichung, Taiwan, were offerings such as fruit, cakes, tea and flowers. Lee lit incense and said prayers directed toward each of the four cardinal directions. Known as a "big luck" ceremony, it ended with the Oscar-winning director switching on a movie camera and striking a gong.

The article describing the work of Los Angeles architect Paul Williams was bittersweet ("Master Class," by Leslee Komaiko, Metropolis, March 7). Williams is known for his significant contributions to our city's landscape, yet his work faces the threat of destruction. Surely Harvard-Westlake School can find a preservation solution to keep the Morris Landau residence in its historic location. Williams overcame enormous obstacles to achieve success. We should not have to remember his visionary work from pictures.

William C. Baer pontificates on how it is unimportant to preserve historic places. After tearing down City Hall, the L.A. Times building and other dated structures, perhaps Professor Baer would suggest setting up tents, which could be thrown away when they get dirty so the new tents might replace them. JIM WALKER Glendale

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.

Mary Adams Urashima crossed through the chain-link gate and stepped back in time. On this warm afternoon, the field was dry and rutted, a hint of the dump next door wafting through the breeze. The few buildings were tattered and filled with refuse, abused by time and vandals. But Urashima saw a wide-open lawn where the rich soil nourished harvests so bountiful that trains would cart away dozens of boxcars at a time. The ponds where goldfish and lily pads were raised. And over there, closer to the crimson farmhouse, the kitchen garden where a family grew vegetables and herbs.