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

Yup, sure did!
Let them know that over 9500 people have viewed it. I guess that I could have said nearly 10k had viewed it. & that over 260 had commented on it whether it had been pro or con. I only sent it to councilman Gavin. I felt that he'd pass it on to his fellow councilmembers, but if you'd like go right ahead & send it in to all the others. We need all the exposure we can get.
Thanx again Chill,

Kevin

 

It is sad to see such a cool place tore down.

I do hate that whole eminent domain thing but think of it this way....If you put an addition, porch or fence up illegally don't they make you take it down?? Well should they same go for this guy he illegally took it down.....make him put it back up! He knew he could get away with a slap on the wrist.

We have a place like this locally..It's called the Tropical treat. It was a cruise spot in the fifties and is still a cool place to get a burger. They still have car hops. They're always busy and the place is in good hands.
Clark

 

Hey Guys,
It's Thursday already and I haven't heard back from the city council. If ya can, please send off an email so that they know we are still watching. That may prompt them to reply. Also any So-Cal Hambers who are interested. Next Tuesday is their next city council meeting so maybe a group showing of support would help.
Thanx

 

NO problem!!!!!!!!!! on top of it boss Maybe relist the honchos e-mail adresses?

 

Tell 'em how you feel,,,again.

http://www.johniesbroiler.com/

 

Hey you guys & gals this is the link to the ciy consel adresses http://www.downeyca.org/city_contact_email.php So let them KNOW we are still watching.(please be polite) this has gotta help!

 

Thanx Meaty!!!!!

 

Writing works!!! I just got a reply from conselman Mario Guerra "Thank you for watching and caring...watch what we do as a city on tuesday night...the law was broken and a criminal investagation has proceeded....this can not stand unpunnished....thanks again"Dn. M Guerra concilman...THEY are listening keep typing away!!!!!

 

That's great news!!!!!!!!!!!! Please keep up the writing guys they need to know that this place needs to survive.

 

Hey Kevin, Axle, or someone, how about an update for today?

 

So Whos going to the city meeting on Tuesday nite???????

 

Lee,
Here is what is going on for tomorrow=Sunday
@ 3:30 pm. We're gonna meet again for some brainstorming.

Chill Pill.Adriene & I are looking to start some prep for the "Run for the Broiler" poker run that we are looking to put together to benefit The Modern Commitee for the conservancy/The Broiler.

If anybody wants to show their support, come on out so we can meet you and be sure to provide some input for the run as well as see the carnage for yourselves.

Kent,
We'll be at the meeting Tuesday Night @ 7:30pm to hear what the city has come up with, Hopefully there will some good news along with an et of what can be cleaned up as well as saved.
From what I saw, there is 1/4 of this existing building that can become re-attached to a rebuilt structure. The uprights for the canopy are still in place & although I am no structural engineer, I believe that a new roof can duplicated in the vein of the original with the drive in sign on the back side.
Any HAMB architects out there willing to work pro-bono for a really good cause It would be nice to be able to get down to the city and see if they have a copy of the original plans on file and then incorporate any upgrades necessary for earthquake compliance.

Any construction workers willing to donate any of their much sought services in order to replicate the original structure

Does any one here in the greater Los Angeles basin have any Hook ups with Lowes/Home Depot or any building supply company that would be willing to donate materials necessary to rebuild this historic piece of americana..

Sidebar note here: There is absolutely nothing monetarilly in this for me personally. It is only my true vision to see this historic site rise from the rubble as a phoenix rises from the ashes!

 

it does suck to see a piece of americana being torn down and how the whole mess took place is certainly f'd up; but i find it a bit odd that there was a "cruise night" after the fact. where was all this support long ago to keep the joint open? i think that if a place is that important, you'd do your best to keep the place in business. i admire everyone's dedication to save the place, but all this support coming out of the woodwork seems crazy

 

133 : Quote : I admire everyone's dedication to save the place, but all this support coming out of the woodwork seems crazy ..
My guess is that no1 thought that anyone EVER would be stupid enough to pay good money for "Harvey`s" , and then turn it into DIRT ..
The present owner is obviously not into making money ..
At best he is just not well informed by his emploies , at worst he is just plain ignorant ...
Anyways ... KEVIN : Excellent work !!!
Would not surprise me much if the present owner knew NOTHING about what he bought & tried to tear down . BUT : if he knew , then make him FAMOUS ( Wordlwide!!!) I take for granted that the City of LA will get this thing sorted out ( with your help/Support )!!!
Klaz
Stay COOL !!

 

The present owner has owned Johnies since 1966. We the friends of Johnies had worked very hard to get it listed on the Ca. historic site in 2002. Johnies was closed on 12-31-01 because Christos would not do anything to improve his service to his customers, so they quit coming there to eat. When there were cruises still going on the cruisers would bring thier own food, because it wasn't fit to eat at Johnies, Christos was informed of this many times, and ignored the pleas from cruisers and customers alike.The bathrooms wern't usable, the cruisers had to go to the gas station down the block. Before Christos closed the doors there were offers to buy, but everytime some one inquired, Christos raised the price, so those interested parties gave up trying to negotiate with him. Later Don

 

So true about the service and lack of useable facilities.
The building was destroyed 2 weeks, or so, ago but the business was abandoned 20 years ago.
It's now been closed about as long as it was "Harvey's Broiler" in the first place.
It's sad but I think it's just time to let this one go...

 

Thanks for the up date..Go to the meeting knowing that your have the support of people all over the country and beyond....its evident the city feels the same to some degree....thanks for it all.....lets us know how it go's

 

Since this is Tuesday and the council is suppose to meet tonight, I sent another email to remind them that we are still interested.


http://www.downeyca.org/city_contact_email.php


I edited this so you guys won't have to go hunting for the address.

 

GOOD LUCK TONITE! remember all the email adresses for the Downey city concil are on page 14..Let them know what you think..........later

 

Thanx for the support guys I'm getting ready to head out there in a few so. wish us luck-Lol!

 

Just got back form Downey=City Council Meeting. Here is what they decided to do. They voted in an emergency moratorium which means that the building (What's left of it) cannot be altered in anyway, other than the clean up of the property in order to assess the damage in order to rebuild/restore,but this isn't over yet?
Man, It was a pathetic showing of support tonight.

We had maybe 12 supporters there=c'mon people-this is a landmark and we need your help in order to insure it's continued survival. As it is I drove by when leaving an after meeting BS session I drove by the sight. I noticed several things are now missing. #1. it seems as if this structure is getting kinda sifted through, #2. The notes that we put up were taken down as if to make it look like to the passing traffic that this cause has absolutely no support. #3. The lack of the security guard that the city required to be on sight. ( Which could allow this to be vandalized-or even worse than that=evidence tampering) This is still a crime scene in an ongoing investigation.

The owner of this place has been cited twice before for doing demo work on this very same building without permits This last time was the 3rd time and the most lethal. I guess he felt that the 3rd time was a charm! Well by law wouldn't that be the 3rd strike law and then you go in for life????

Anything that any HAMBers can do would greatly be appreciated. Please go back & read my post requesting some help in reconstruction process as well as any professional print work that can be done in order to print up some 17x11 color flyers that can be placed in windows of businesses as well as shops.
Please do what you can to help, ok?
Thanx,
Kevin

 

Kevin, Just sent out some E-mails.

 

Sorry for missing the meeting. I'm burnin' the Midnight Oil for the GRNS load in tomorrow.

 

Kevin.thanks for showing and letting them know we care........what about the retro crowd did they show? this is big on their pages too!Hopefully this is well documented with photos so the asshole can t beat this in court.............let us know what we can do tho help from afar.AND LETS KEEP SENDING E-MAILS TO THE CITY!

 

The Modern Commitee was there, I believe that there was @ least 6 of their members there? I am not a member of that, just basically acting on my own as a very concerned rod/custom enthusiast who just would not like to see this landmark go away.
I video'd part of the meeting which had several pro speakers & one con,(he stated that if we wanted saved,then why don't we form a corporation and buy the site)-This is not a new idea that has not been brought up before. In fact, last night I read a letter to the city from the Ruby's restaurant chain dated 2004, that expressed genuine interest in taking over the site.This is a major corporation that this person speaks of. The owner of the property turned down any offer to be purchased/saved by raising his price by 2million once he knew that a major player was now interested in the property.
There are many people making comments, but do the research if one is to speak. Ruby's was ready to restore the restaurant back to it's original flair, The signage was to even stay the same albeit with perhaps the Harvey's or Ruby's name on it. All of the neon was to be restored as well as many upgrades to the then existing structure.
Mel's has expressed an interest as well.
As for any photos of the site in it's state of the destruction,I personally have some, but if anybody has something to add, scan em & email them to me, I'll foward them to the Modern Committee.

If anyone is interested in doing a pre-ghost site run/cruise just to show support and to map out how we'd actually do the poker run,
please let me know. I'm open to ideas as to where to actually start and end it. For our PRC reliability run we generally map out the course then we do several dry runs with members in their rods in orderto get the times down as well as look for road closures or anything else that may happen.
My idea for the start would be to start @ Bob's in Toluca Lake and end @ Georges-Grishinger's in North Long Beach. We'd hit all of the old haunts in between that are no longer there & have been lost to progress. Let me know what you think? Again this would be a pre-run and Adriene from the Modern Commitee would like to maybe do this in 2 weeks, any body open to this????

Chill Pill, I'll see ya @ the show.
Thanks HAMBers

 

Kevin, thanks for the good job of reporting what went on last night, saved me from doing it. I was there also, it was a poor showing of supporters, maybe on the 27th of Feb. we will have a better showing. I am all for the Ghost Cruise, keep us informed. Don

 

I am with Mcqueen, make them pay to rebuild it.

 

Don,
I wish that I would have met you there, Thanx for the compliment, We need to pack those council chambers,so please people-come on out and be at the meeting on Feb 27th so that the moratoriam hearing that will be going on that night can be participated in. Repeat,Voices need to be heard people so, come on out to that meeting/hearing so that we can let the council see that landmark will not go w/o fight and as it is now we have a precedence established in that city as a result of this illegal and partial demo with the emergency moratorium being activated.
Thanx for attending.
Kevin

 

Thanks for keeping the fire stoked for those of us that cannot be there.

 

Thank you and keep pressing on them boys in the council so that they know that we are watching. There is another post set up re: a cruise that we are going to have on Feb 25th @ Toluca Lake Bobs to this location.
Please come & show some support.