Jazz Fest, Cemetery Tour, and more.

Don't Labor, Be Happy - Plus Tours of Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, and Western Heights

1). JAZZ IN THE AVENUES

Sunday, September 2 (Labor Day Weekend)
7:30 - 11 p.m.
Seventh Avenue (between Adams and 25th Street; block is closed to vehicles)

West Adams Avenues invites everyone to the neighborhood's Annual Free "Jazz In the Avenues" event on the Sunday before Labor Day. This is a great community fete with music under the stars headlined by Jazzman Michael King and his Michael King Trio. Plus, back by popular demand is Wendy Ryan, whose salsa rhythms rocked the house last year. Bring your own tables, chairs, and/or blankets to sit on -- plus a packed meal. The Avenues will provide some water, soda, and lemonade; but do also bring your own favorite libations. Questions? Call Donna Jones, 323-734-6473.

2). 17TH ANNUAL LIVING HISTORY TOUR AT ANGELUS ROSEDALE CEMETERY

Saturday, September 29
(Early Bird Deadline for Lower-Priced Tickets is September 15)

The Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, one of the city's oldest, most historically significant cemeteries, was founded in 1884, and is now home to many generations of Los Angeles's early citizens, representing every race, faith, and creed. Every year, WAHA focuses on some of their life stories by presenting a Living History Tour at Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, featuring actor portrayals, graveside, of some of the individuals buried at the cemetery. This year, you'll meet:

• John Marcellus Stewart, an early California gold miner and Los Angeles pioneer nurseryman whose 1871 cottage still stands in West Adams. Stewart made his way from Wisconsin across the Rockies and the desert to pan for gold in Placerville and Calaveras County in the 1850s, before settling in Los Angeles.
  
  
• Louise Glaum, one of the most effective silent film era femme fatales. Glaum was a melodramatic actress of the stage before becoming a sexy rival to fellow screen vamp Theda Bara.
  
  
• Francis Murphy, the "American Apostle of Temperance," a reformer, orator and evangelist who campaigned against alcohol. Murphy led a "Blue Ribbon Army" and eventually convinced 12,000 people to sign pledges against drinking liquor.
  
  
• Ernest R. (Bubbles) Whitman, a radio personality, comic, emcee, and film actor ("Stormy Weather," "Cabin in the Sky") who also starred in the TV series "Beulah." Whitman perfected a word-spinning, tongue-tangling banter as the master of ceremonies for a series of shows recorded by the Army to entertain troups abroad during WWII.
  
  
• Marshall Neilan, charming and madcap film director of several classic Mary Pickford blockbusters, including "Daddy Long Legs." A famously charming womanizer, he was married to the actress Blanche Sweet until he cheated on her one time too many.
  
  
• Eliza Griffin Johnston, an artist, diarist, and wife of Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, who was killed in the battle of Shiloh. Johnston was the first woman artist in the American West. "Texas Wild Flowers," a book of 101 of her paintings from the 1840s and 1850s, was published in 1972.

We hope you'll join us for this event. This is an outdoor 3-hour walking tour over uneven terrain. Please do wear appropriate clothing, and walking shoes.

Tickets are by advance reservation only -- no walk-ins.

Tickets

$25 general admission, $20 WAHA members, PAID BY SEPTEMBER 15. Space available, after September 15, all tickets are $30. (Children under 10 attend for free.)

Additional information: 323-732-4223, tours@westadamsheritage.org, or visit www.WestAdamsHeritage.org.

Download an order form here:

http://westadamsheritage.org/images/stories/pdfs/waha_cemetery_tour_flyer_2007 .pdf

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

We are looking for volunteer help, as always. For those of you new to WAHA, or new to West Adams, volunteering at events is a terrific way to meet your neighbors. There are many tasks that need helping hands - both in advance and on the day of the tour. We need help at check-in, of course, and we also need assistants for our actors. Since this is a guided ("shepherded") tour, we need tour guides (you'll need to attend a training session the weekend before). And we also have a variety of behind the scenes positions, including schlepping, and helping with set up and clean up for a volunteer thank you party. If you wish to be of service, please contact Sally Turner at salturner@sbcglobal.net.

3). SIX BLOCKS OF HISTORY: WESTERN HEIGHTS HOMES TOUR

Sunday, September 9
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

You're invited to "Six Blocks of History," the Western Heights Neighborhood Association (WHNA) Homes Tour. Stroll through the "streetcar suburb" where up-and-coming young professional families built their homes in the early part of this century. Eight historically significant homes will be open for tour.

Located just north of the Santa Monica Freeway between Western and Arlington, Western Heights is an architecturally diverse enclave filled with custom-built homes from the turn of the century. Originally developed outside the city limits, this six-block area was a forerunner to the modern suburb, far from the dusty and noisy center of town. The residential streets are characterized by two- and three-story single family residences in many architectural styles including Craftsman, Tudor Revival, Queen Anne, Spanish Colonial Revival, Monterey Revival, and American Four-square. Many were designed by some of the most prominent architects of Los Angeles, including John C. Austin, Myron Hunt, Sumner Hunt, Frank M. Tyler, Elmer Grey, Arthur R. Kelley, and Paul Williams.

Much of the community's architectural legacy remains intact in spite of the construction of the Santa Monica Freeway in 1960. To maintain the neighborhood's integrity, the Western Heights HPOZ was created by the City in 2001. It contains 120 Contributing and Contributing "Altered" structures dating from the late 19th century to the 1930s.

Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 the day of the tour. Final tickets will be sold at 3:30 p.m. Tickets for the self-guided tour are available through WHNA, PO Box 191400, Los Angeles, CA 90019 or by e-mailing westernheightstour@mac.com. Proceeds from this event will benefit construction of traffic easements in the neighborhood. Visit our historic neighborhood at www.WesternHeightsonline.com.

4). SUBMIT YOUR NEWS

We welcome your contributions to the WAHA E-News and West Adams Heritage Association's monthly publication, "West Adams Matters." Please understand that we do have deadlines. Material for the print newsletter should be submitted no later than the 1st of the prior month (i.e.: April 1 for the May issue). If your event is scheduled for early in a month, we suggest you request coverage for the prior month (i.e.: May issue for a June 3 event), because it's entirely possible that not all of our members will have received their newsletter by then (we do try hard.) We reserve the right to edit submitted material. For the WAHA E-News, we prefer to only send it out once or twice a month. Please don't wait until two days before an event to let us know about it. It may not be sent out.

EXCEPTION

If you suddenly hear of an important city hearing or other public meeting that is important to West Adams, we will endeavor to send out a special bulletin.

Submit your material to Laura Meyers, editor, lauramink@aol.com.