Linda Dishman

Born:

Marysville, Calif.; 1956


Position:

Executive Director,Los Angeles Conservancy


Accomplishments:

Backed by Conservancy staff, Dishman has helped save several historic buildings throughout the L.A. area, including the Wilshire May Co. building, the Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis House, the Cinerama Dome and St. Vibiana’s Cathedral. She successfully pushed for city of L.A. adaptive reuse ordinance and helped establish historic preservation overlay zones.


Quote:

“Adaptive reuse is particularly exciting. It brings alive the past while serving the present.”

When she was growing up in California’s Central Valley, Linda Dishman was fascinated by history and majestic old buildings. So it was quite natural that when she went to college, she found a way to marry her two passions: interning in the state Office of Historic Preservation.

Ever since then, Dishman has been laboring tirelessly to preserve old buildings wherever she finds herself living. She moved to Pasadena in the 1980s and championed the saving of buildings in Pasadena’s Old Town district, including a bungalow complex that was facing the wrecking ball. After a brief stint in San Francisco, where she helped save several buildings, she took over at the helm of the Los Angeles Conservancy in 1992.

At the time, the conservancy was in fiscal difficulties, as the recession had cut into fundraising. And while preservation activists may have a passion for saving old buildings, they’ve not always proven adept at raising the money they need to help their cause. Amy Forbes, a partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and the conservancy’s president at the time, said one of the first questions that board members had for Dishman was whether she could raise money. They quickly found out she could. “She has the unique combination of passion for the issue and the ability to charm almost anyone,” Forbes said.

That charm, combined with the occasional knack for self-deprecating humor, allows Dishman to disarm many of the developers and other officials she finds across the table from her. Backed by a staff of 13 at the Conservancy, Dishman has racked up a string of “saves,” including the Wilshire May Co. building, the Cinerama Dome, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House, the historic McDonald’s in Downey and the one she’s most proud of the quake-damaged St. Vibiana’s Cathedral in Downtown Los Angeles.

The effort to save St. Vibiana’s pitted Dishman against a powerful foe: the Catholic Archdiocese, which was intent on demolishing the structure. After years of battles, she finally convinced the church to turn over the property to developer Tom Gilmore, who has turned it into a performing arts center.

Dishman also was one of the early champions of the city of L.A.’s adaptive reuse ordinance, along with the Central City Association. The ordinance has helped clear the way for the reuse of dozens of historic buildings, primarily in the downtown area, including St. Vibiana’s. She recognized the value of turning these buildings whose original functions were obsolete into other uses.

“We really work hard to get to what it is that the property owner needs to get out of this and how we can still preserve the building,” Dishman said.

But set against all of these successes is one glaring failure, and one that continues to gnaw at Dishman and all local preservation advocates: the long, but ultimately futile fight to save the Ambassador Hotel, which faced the wrecking ball last year. Dishman and the Conservancy staff spent thousands of hours trying to convince the Los Angeles Unified School District to keep the existing structure while still accommodating small school campuses on the rest of the property.

“It really was the most challenging, and ultimately frustrating, project I have ever been involved with,” Dishman said.

Lately, Dishman has taken a broader focus: using the Conservancy’s resources to educate people about many of the historic buildings in their midst. “We want to teach people to appreciate all the historic buildings, so that we can head off efforts to tear them down,” she said.

Education is at the core of the Conservancy’s Broadway Initiative, an ambitious effort to remake the Broadway corridor downtown by bringing in more retail and mixed-use projects while still keeping the historic buildings intact.

Along similar lines, Dishman has also been a forceful proponent of historic preservation overlay zones, the often controversial areas of historic neighborhoods that limit the ability of property owners to tear down or even modify their structures.

Dishman has accumulated her share of critics over the years. Some preservation advocates say she’s sometimes too willing to cut deals with developers or avoids certain disputes. Meanwhile, some developers and property owners see her sometimes as an obstacle.

Forbes, who acknowledges the occasional disagreement with Dishman, said that one of her greatest strengths is the ability to pick and choose her battles. In general, Dishman has “fought to the death” to save major landmarks such as the Ambassador, but does not try to save every 75-year-old home that faces remodeling.

“She knows what battles are worth fighting and what battles are not,” Forbes said. “She also knows when to push hard and when to apply a gentler approach so that a deal doesn’t collapse altogether.”