Remarks

December 10, 1998

Remarks by Richard Moe,
President, National Trust for Historic Preservation,
for the First Lady on her visit to Los Angeles for
Save America’s Treasures

Los Angeles Theater
LOS ANGELES, Calif.

I also want to thank the LA Conservancy for all that it has done in planning today’s events and in preserving the heritage of Los Angeles. A great city deserves a strong, effective preservation organization to help keep its past alive, and that’s exactly what Los Angeles has in the Conservancy.

We’re here today to welcome First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to downtown Los Angeles, to celebrate the Save America’s Treasures program, and to make an announcement about an important and exciting new element of that program.

Theaters such as the Los Angeles and its neighbors in the Broadway Theater District are exactly the kind of places that the Save America’s Treasures program is designed for. These theaters are a tremendous resource for anyone who wants to learn about history. You could learn about it from books, certainly, but reading history can’t compare with the experience of walking through history. A building like this one is an entryway into the community's memory, a reminder of a time when theater-going was an Event — with a capital "E" — an escape, an excursion into fantasy that was facilitated by the creation of architectural environments more lavish than anything before or since. Marcus Loew was absolutely right when he said, "We sell tickets to theaters, not movies."

Theaters like these were palaces for the common man. Many of them have disappeared or have been boarded up — but others are still pulling in the crowds. One of those that is still open is the Palace here in the Broadway District, which has found new life as the home of a marvelous program for young people called Living Literature Colors United. We have a group from this program to perform for us today.

Making sure that places like this theater are preserved and passed on as our legacy to coming generations is the whole idea behind the Save America’s Treasures program. The program gives us the opportunity to make a gift of enormous value and lasting benefit to Americans of the new millennium. Many of America’s treasures are in jeopardy, and once they disappear, they’re gone forever. That’s why this program’s call to action is so important: Saving our heritage isn’t someone else’s job.

I believe Save America’s Treasures has the potential to become the most ambitious nationwide preservation effort ever undertaken, and the person who deserves the thanks for that is the First Lady. Just as it was her vision that shaped the program at the outset, it is her conviction and enthusiasm that have made her its most articulate and effective champion. Her visit to Los Angeles today is just one of a series of visits to historic places that she has undertaken in recent months--visits that have generated enormous media coverage and given preservation a new prominence on the national agenda. Thanks to her, thousands of people have a renewed appreciation for the importance of their heritage and a better understanding of their responsibility for ensuring that it isn’t swept away. I think you can sum up her contribution this way: Historic preservation has never had a better friend in the White House than Hillary Rodham Clinton, and I’m delighted to have this opportunity to say a public and sincere "thank you" for the enormous gift of time and energy you have given to the nation.

The National Trust is honored to have been selected as the private-sector partner of the White House Millennium Council to coordinate a public awareness campaign and to assist in identifying urgent preservation needs and directing funds to them. We’re already hard at work — and local groups in cities and towns from coast to coast are already identifying potential projects. We encourage every community in the country to adopt its own millennium project. We also encourage them to consider applying for official Save America’s Treasures Project designation, which they can use as a means of publicizing their efforts and securing financial support.

Preservation in America has always been grounded in productive partnerships between the public and private sectors. Today you’ll hear an announcement that shows that this partnership is still alive and strong. Warner Brothers Records, based here in Los Angeles, is making a marvelous commitment to Save America’s Treasures. It’s a truly imaginative gift that celebrates the music that is one of this country’s greatest cultural treasures — and establishes a permanent, endowed preservation fund that will assist state and local preservation groups and public agencies in their efforts to save other kinds of treasures.

I’m happy to have this opportunity to express my thanks for this generous example of corporate commitment to preservation, and to introduce the vice-chairman and general counsel of Warner Brothers Records, David Altschul.

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