Harvey's Broiler Razed Illegally!!!!!!!!!!!!

That sounds great.... i hope it works out. I also sent a bunch of e-mails out

 

that is awesome Kevin. glad to hear they are (or seem to be) taking the side of the "little guy" for a change. ofcourse the fact that the guy did an illegal demo after they denied him permision probably did'nt make them too reseptive to his "cause".
i realy hope it gets rebuilt good as new and finds a new owner too.

 

Have any of you seen how many of these new strip malls that are being built are themselves vacant within a few years? There are a bunch of them around here. Business is gangbusters for a couple of years then boom....gone. Then used book stores move in and churches and the rest of it just falls into shambles because of piss poor construction. It's self defeating.
If it wasn't for the Viatnamese near my neighborhood Colonialtown would be a ghost town and FWIW they might not appreciate mid century modern architecture but they haven't utterly destroyed it either.

 

Thanks so much for going Kevin and Phil and Axle! For those of us far away- you are our voice.

I wonder if a transcript of the council meeting will be available?

 

I havent had the time to read all the threads on this, but this kind of shit happens way too often! Not only rebuild it like it was, improve the infrastructure (wiring, plumbing,etc...) to code and make the rotten bastard pay for it!
Quit selling American Icons to foreigners! Thats the answer to a lot of problems, and would some rich American please buy back Chrysler from the Germans? I want a new Challenger, not some fuckin Mercedes!

ok, I feel better now, thank you and God bless..............

 

waaaaaaaay off topic but the Germans have actually done that company alot of good. overall they have the best styling of the (so called) big 3. and i work for GM!

 

Let's keep this "on track".

This isn't about nationality, so don't come on here and not read all the posts and bash someone because of where they were born.

I would like a few minutes with the architect designing the project to go in its place. Where's his public responsibilty?

 

While speaking I did see a transcriber there doing her job just as fast as she could type. Contact the city by way of email or phone to request a transcript, Let them know especially that you are from out of town and could not physically attend the meeting but do care what will happen to this historical landmark and I am sure that they would make a copy of available. I believe when that many eyes are watching,the powers that be will seek to please a broader audience.
Thanx,
Kevin

 

thanks for turning out!

 

Hey Kevin! what can we do to help you all out from this point forward?

 

Hey Meatball,
See reply #150 above for a brief synopsis of the meeting. In a Nut Shell, It's looking like the city is gonna stick it to this knucklehead for attempting to destroy an historic landmark.
There are so many violations that the city can probably write a book after this deal is all over on "How NOT to demo a piece of it's history"
This is the 1st time that I have ever seen a city council in agreemant with the community or even non-residents such as Chill Pill,Axle & I in righting a wrong that has been perpetrated against an Historical Landmark,that nearly 40 years ago the police department wasn't too happy about dealing with. How times have changed! The police chief even was onboard with a rebuild.
Guys & Gals lets keep the flame lit and bring this cruise spot back to fruition.

 

CycloneKevin and others, It is great to see this turn into something positive. Yeah the damage is done, but can we pull together and have an old American icon back on the streets? I sure DAMN hope so! In a world of cookie cutter stores (There at every plaza in SoCal), it's refreshing to sees an old building still being used. I plan to drive up to see Johnnies Broiler this weekend or next. Let's hope for the best in this outcome.

Ken

 

The most important thing you have said about this situation. Kevin, I am glad things went well for your cause last night, but, the most important thing you can do now is keep this in front of them. Politicians are great at saying the right things when news crews and their constituents are assembled in front of them, but when the white light of controversy fades, the situation fades from their memory. Good luck with your fight, I will do what I can through emails and phone calls.

 

This is what Birmingham, Alabama razed... the mayor used bits of it for his own home.

 

This is what we saved... crazy world ain't it?

 

Cyclone Kevin, i hope they city council, police chief and mayor all follow through with what they said last night. would be nice to be able to say i CRUISED HARVEYS!!!!

 

Wow, great building that was, did they build a Home Depot there, instead?

 

Some body used to have " I cruised Harveys broilier " t- shirts.........anybody know if those are still around?..........if not maybe a good fund raiser

 

You guys better hope the gov't doesn't ever require all cars be returned to their exact factory components, to make them historically correct.....I bet we will hear ALL of you bitchin then!.......If I decide to tear down my house, it's my business, and only my business....I paid for it, and I will destroy it if I feel like it.

 

at the last minute my wife and i decided to drive all the way out there from riverside. we sat in traffic most of the way but arrived around 7:00. this was just enough time to get inside the building and grab a couple of seats as the outside parking lot was filling up with cars & people .
by 7:30 every seat in the house was full,the back of the room had people standing 3 row deep,and yet more people gathered outside.
as i looked around the room there were familiar faces i hadn't seen in over 17 years. a lot of the original cruisers as well as the 1980's cruisers were spread throughout the room.
right at 7:35 councilmen,the mayor,fire chief (who wasn't happen about exceeding the occupancy),city manager,and police chief all walked in. you could see as most of them just took a moment to realise just how many people were in attendance. after a few official statements the mayor spoke and told everyone that they'd handle a few school & elks lodge matters then get to the reason so many people were here....the situation regarding johnies broiler. after he said that the entire room burst out yelling,screaming,and applauding. every councilmen just looked around the room in almost disbelief.
when it came time for the johnies matter to be brought up the crowd again applauded. the first council person who was the only woman on the board spoke and said "until police investigations were completed she'd rather not comment on anything" . seconds after the councilman who sat to her immediate right said "allthough i respect my fellow council there are a lot of johnnies broiler supporters here tonight and i refuse to just sit here quite as i have a lot to say". the crowd yelled,screamed,and applauded for what seemed like a minute. he said he felt it was a disgrace,a criminal act,and went on to say that there's power in numbers and something positive should be done to johnies.

the mayor indeed said what some of you saw on the news last night. he felt the property owners knew what they were doing, had no legal right to start demo,and that he would make sure they are legally brought to justice.... to the fullest extent of the law. he also said that johnies should be brought back to the way it was. the crowd cheered. the police chief spoke and said they are currently undergoing a full investigation with city D.A. prosecuter's,investigators,and the rest of the downey police department. he assured everyone that this case will not rest at all.
one by one every other council member spoke in disbelief of what happened and encouraged the city to repair the damages. throughout this entire portion of the session the first council woman sat there with a stone cold look on her face. ( as javier mejia would probably say ) "maybe she was moded" ! i think she felt like an ass and rightfully so.
the council i was most impressed with was mario a. guerra. he expressed how greatful he was to see so many people email him. he told the audience "he even received an email from as far away as amsterdam holland" i couldn't help to think it was rik hoving. when he said that, the crowd again applauded with what seemed like eternity! he said this really shows him how important johnies broiler is to not only the community but the world!

after that they allowed comments by the audience. the first person to speak was a a vietnam vet who told council that he grew up in the area, bought a 63 impala with a dual quad 409, 4 speed,and positraction. the crowd half way stood up and applauded. he said when he & his buddies went to vietnam thats all they talked about...was getting back and cruising because that was americana for them. he said "america didn't build pyramids...but we didn't have to cause we have influenced the world with our culture"...."stuff like cars,music,and famous diners like johnies".
one by one people from all walks of life got on the mic and spoke in support of johnies. from school teachers,kids,the elderly,to artsy googie achitecture foundations,to L.A. historic preservationists,to eccentric's,to women with big "save johnies broiler" t-shirts,to people wearing "the blasters" t-shirts.
i wasn't going to speak but i didn't see any other car guys getting up. after 3/4 of the people spoke we started seeing cyclone kevin in line,then chil phil. my wife kept nudging me so i got up and got in line. after all, we just spent almost 2 hours on the freeway getting there.
chil phil had his vipers jacket on and i was right behind with my shifters jacket.
when it was my turn i have to admit i was a bit nervous but something came over me and i just said "f*#@! it" to myself....then spoke.
i told council my name and told them that i just drove 2 hours from riverside to attend. told them that family friends use to cruise there in the 50's & 60's, i use to cruise there in the 80's, and that this should never of happened. i then said whether a person is from san diego or bakersfield the minute you mention the city of downey one automatically thinks of harveys broiler" . i then went on to say "after the property owner or owners are finally released from doing thier jail time the city should make them pay to rebuild johnies broiler out of thier own pocket" . i expressed how something should be done to that historical landmark, told them that i promote & organise one of las vegas' largest hot rod shows once a year,and that i would do what ever it takes to help raise money to keep the place going....various fund raiser's,car shows,special exhibits,etc.

all in all, i think city council was impressed with the overwelming large attendance as well as responses given by the crowd.

after that was over i was met by the guys from the caveliers car club and follwed them all back to thier club house.

it was great seeing THEO, CYCLONE KEVIN,CHIL PHIL,and many others!

thanks

 

It's not about if ya want to build a rod or restore it...this is about saving a piece of history,the owner KNEW that it was up for historical status when he destroyed the building,if he didnt want the problems of owning such a building he one should not have bought it or sold it and moved on.........it would make as much sense as tearing down the HOLLYWOOD sign cause it was old

 

Bud,
One thing that we have now is the power of the HAMB which is a very strong in voicing an opinion! I will participate in doing what I can in relaying HAMB members what is actually transpiring here and an individual by the name of Adrienne who originally brought this to the attention of the city council 5yrs ago with a group called (Friends of Johnie's Broiler) will let me know by email what her group is doing and when we hear about it, we'll post more reports on it.
I will say this though This was the biggest turnout that the city council has ever had @ a council meeting and Adrienne stated that there was never this much support for this by the former council members as well as the people, Problem was then, she didn't know the power of the HAMB,Keep up the support please and if anybody is willing to physically help, feel free to pm me.

Chlill Pill & I proposed a Ghost-Poker Run that would start off @ lets say Bob's Toluca Lake then hit many former drive-in sights throughout the southland as there were many! Make its way past Harvey's/Johnie's to include many of the Bellflower haunts then end up @the former Grisinger's now George's Drive In in the Long Beach area. Now this would end up being an all day affair so I'm open to hearing your views on this as is Adrienne & Chill Pill.
Thanx,
Kevin

 

Axle,
Well said! My God! One doesn't need to request the transcripts now . You did a great job there last night! AllI can really say is THANK YOU! I believe that your words did not fall on deaf ears.

 

i'm glad to hear the city is on our side of this. however, not knowing the city/state laws, i suspect the city doesn't have the authority in any way to require him to return it to it's previous condition at his expense. the fine is the punishment, the law likely doesn't provide for more. i'm not saying there is no hope, this may well come down to a case of emminent domain for the sake of restoring/rebuilding a historic property. this would take little more than cubic dollars. i;m guessing a couple of million to compensate the property owner for his property, hard to swallow i know, but he is entitled to fair compensation if we take his land away for the public good. so who's gonna start a fundraiser so we can put up some money to prove to the city that people are serious about saving what is left of johnies?

 

If you do this, I'm definately in. I bet I could convince some other gearhead goons to drive out from Phoenix also.

 

Hell yeah!...it would be easier if we could do it on the same weekend as say pomona swapmeet or whatever.........I could try to pull in some more AZ cars as well

 

We'll work on it! and this is what will be th 1st of many fundraisers.
Ray, Wanna make the drive down??? .

Raed what Axle wrote above about helping also, so this could become a reality.
Thanks,
Kevin

 

lets wait to see what the city of downey decides.
if it goes the way i think i will then do everything i possibly can (with all of my contacts) to get every car club on the west coast involved,show promoters,dj's,major bands like STRAY CATS,big sandy,james intveld,the blasters,etc,etc.

what we need are the heavy hitters to acknowledge this! folks like JAY LENO, TIM ALLEN,BILLY GIBBONS,BRUCE MEYER,GAIL BANKS,ETC.

 

Wow! I'm very impressed with the response from the HAMB for this. Whatever we do, in the way of a poker run/ghost cruise/fundraiser, I just know will be fun and well worth the trip. I think, NO, I believe we can really have a positive effect on this.

I have visions of the Boulevard dancing in my head. Hot rods, streetsweeping customs, flirty gals in old more doors, folks saying" That's just like I remember it", and a rediffinition of COOL to the kids on skateboards and bikes. Attention and money for the good works of the LA Conservancy. And maybe best of all, a chance to do something that eliminates the distance between generations and the types of cars we love. Harvey's saw a parade of VWs, hot rods, trailered race cars, lowriders…you name it! Best of all, a place to debut the Kandy Apple dreams of the new crop of builders and painters, like Circle City, Imperial Kustoms, Black Widow Kustoms, Drag On Shoppe and a kazzillion others that I didn't mention.

And it's very gratifying to note that almost all comments on this thread have been supportive and positive. To rise to the challenge, to adapt, to work with what is there, to improve and then run with it. That IS the hot rod spirit. And it is happening because of the strong community of the HAMB.

Viva la HAMB!!!!! A Tip of the Viper's Top Hat to all who make it go.