save our tiki history - General Tiki

T tikipedia Member San Diego Joined: Aug 25, 2004 Posts: 491	T tikipedia Posted posted on Wed, Nov 15, 2006 9:42 PM Sad to say, but I think a lot of the pessimists in this thread are on target, with respects to preserving our ever vanishing Tiki institutions. A few years back, I was involved with a group trying to save the USS Cabot, a famed WWII aircraft carrier. This ship was sold to the Spanish Navy in the 1960s, and was in an almost unmodified state. It had a storied history, and was a true historical treasure. This ship was placed on the National Register of Historical Places, was designated as a project of the Save America's Treasures organization, as well as several other listings. But the museum that obtained the Cabot from Spain went belly-up, and the Cabot lingered in legal limbo for nearly a decade. At one point, when the ship languished in a shipyard in Texas, I wrote a letter to the then Governor George Bush, asking him to provide some state designation to hold off auctioning the ship until more money could be raised to pay off the numerous bills and Coast Guard fees the Cabot had accrued. But nothing worked, and the ship was sold to the breakers and scrapped in 2000. It was an exhausting effort trying to raise money, and fighting in court to hold off the sale of the ship. It is EXTREMELY difficult to preserve historical sites. In reality, a lot of the historical designations are of relatively little value and are more symbolic in nature. A few local communities do have some stringent protections for buildings that meet (typically) a narrow set of criteria. But beyond that, the only guarantee is if some enthusiast or consortium buys the place. Also, a lot of local governments are looking at ways to raise tax revenue, and are often pro-development. This puts vintage tiki joints at even more peril. Few governments will recognize most post-WWII architecture as historic. It does happen in rare instances, but is the exception rather than the rule. And even if you do get historical protection, you need a constant influx of money to maintain the place. The Tikipedia www.tikipedia.com [ Edited by: tikipedia 2006-11-16 07:58 ]

Sad to say, but I think a lot of the pessimists in this thread are on target, with respects to preserving our ever vanishing Tiki institutions.

A few years back, I was involved with a group trying to save the USS Cabot, a famed WWII aircraft carrier. This ship was sold to the Spanish Navy in the 1960s, and was in an almost unmodified state. It had a storied history, and was a true historical treasure. This ship was placed on the National Register of Historical Places, was designated as a project of the Save America's Treasures organization, as well as several other listings. But the museum that obtained the Cabot from Spain went belly-up, and the Cabot lingered in legal limbo for nearly a decade. At one point, when the ship languished in a shipyard in Texas, I wrote a letter to the then Governor George Bush, asking him to provide some state designation to hold off auctioning the ship until more money could be raised to pay off the numerous bills and Coast Guard fees the Cabot had accrued. But nothing worked, and the ship was sold to the breakers and scrapped in 2000. It was an exhausting effort trying to raise money, and fighting in court to hold off the sale of the ship.

It is EXTREMELY difficult to preserve historical sites. In reality, a lot of the historical designations are of relatively little value and are more symbolic in nature. A few local communities do have some stringent protections for buildings that meet (typically) a narrow set of criteria. But beyond that, the only guarantee is if some enthusiast or consortium buys the place. Also, a lot of local governments are looking at ways to raise tax revenue, and are often pro-development. This puts vintage tiki joints at even more peril. Few governments will recognize most post-WWII architecture as historic. It does happen in rare instances, but is the exception rather than the rule. And even if you do get historical protection, you need a constant influx of money to maintain the place.

The Tikipedia
www.tikipedia.com

[ Edited by: tikipedia 2006-11-16 07:58 ]

Post #267061 by tikipedia on Wed, Nov 15, 2006 9:42 PM