Beverly Hills Weekly, Issue #834, Kimberly Vinokur Reiss

people & profiles
What inspired you to establish

Beverly Hills Heritage?
Having grown up in this community
during my formative years, I was very
much impressed with the architecture in
the community and the history and its
something that I carried with me even
when I left with my mother in the late
1970s. Without sounding too clich
but its the truthno matter where I
was living in my life, I was never happy
like I was when I was here in Beverly
Hills. With the advent of social media
and reconnecting with childhood friends
and seeing photographs of the City, I
became, once again, sort of enamored
and felt a longing to return here. While
I was trying to do that, I found myself
searching and researching for historic
images of the City. Through those images, I learned a lot about the history of
the City. The development of this City
occurred the most during the 1920s and
1930s, and thats a period of history and
architecture that I loved the mostthe
Art Deco eraso it was a natural marriage of history, facts, imagery and personal love for the City, etc. I created a
Facebook page while still living outside
of Los Angeles called Beverly Hills
Historic Preservation. I worked on
that page for two years and build quite
an archive of images and followers. It
wasnt until I actually moved back to
the City in 2013 and took a course at
USC about historic architecture [that]
I decided to turn my hard work on
Facebook into an actual organization
that would serve the community. In
essence, it was the allure of my love
for the community and its history that
brought me back here.
How does Beverly Hills Heritage
achieve its mission of recognizing, preserving and promoting the
architectural, cultural and historic
resources of the City?
Ive endeavored to do that through
social media, through community
events, through personal relationships
and being civically involved. Were
always working on new plans and forming new ideas as to how to achieve that.
We also have a growing archive collection of historic memorabilia which
includes artifacts from buildings and
the Citys resources. For instance, when
the Electric Fountain was in the beginning stages of remodeling and they were
breaking all the historic tiles, when they
were done keeping the pieces that they
wanted to keep, I came and picked up
the scraps before it headed to the trash.
All of these remnants and artifacts of
history I hope to put

in a display someday in a museum.
Over the last six
months, weve had
to reevaluate our
goals and objectives as an organization in light of the
changing [Historic
Preservation
Ordinance]
and
the charge of the
Cultural Heritage
Commission and
also by gauging
public interest. Any
non-profit, in its
inception, is going
to be a work in
progress and we are
trying to find our
way around achieving our mission in
a community that
is not that preservation friendly. Ive
always been in this
for the long haul
and Ive always
been realistic about
what can be done
and know that its
going to take time.
Right now, our biggest goal is education and increasing
membership.
events together. Over the last year, we

lost a couple of members and gained
a few, so its always a work in progress and finding the right combination.
Currently, Im working on creating
informal house tours of landmarked
properties where we can not only teach
about the architecture and the history of the home within the Citys
timeline, but also
raise funds to
place plaques on
the front of the
house, like they
did at Greystone
[Mansion].
There doesnt
seem to be any
bona fide way
with which to
do that. Theres
nothing on the
outside of the
homes or the
properties that
indicates that its
a landmark and
Id really like to
see that done.
One project that
is very near and
dear to my heart
but that proves
to be difficult
is to somehow
find a way to
acquire some of
the artifacts that
are lying around
the City that are
historic in nature
and are sitting
in Public Works
buildings
and
lots and locked
compartments or
locked closets. It
drives me crazy
that that stuff is
there
because
I dont know
whats happening to it and I
worry
about
things getting
thrown
away.
But theres not
precedence with the City for acquiring
these kind of artifacts and so it gets
stuck in limbo because the City has
never had a program for maintaining
anything thats historic. We have a
shield signone, last, original shield
signthat wed like have restored and
placed somewhere in the [Business
Triangle], but getting that accomplished
is a daunting task. I think people care
but people dont know how to go about
doing it, so I have to try and find a way.
In all honesty,
I respect all the
councilmembers,
but I find that my
true friendships
lie with those who
have a similar
perspective and
belief system as
I do. This is not
to say that Im
not friendly with
those that vote
against the way I
believe, but I dont
find that we have
much in common
otherwise.
What do you think

is the single greatest threat to historic preservation
in Beverly Hills?
I would say that
the single greatest
threat to historic
preservation in this
City is the lack of interest in it by the
people who are investing in real estate.
[Additionally], the need for revenue
thats generated as a result of the investments that the City relies on to further
the goals of the community. Just having
a better budget, I guess you could say.
What is Beverly Hills Heritage currently working on?
Right now we are doing a lot of
internal work with Board structure and
trying to find the right people to fill
gaps in what we need to have assistance
with. We recently appointed a membership director who will be handling
growing our member base and putting
Tell us about your educational background.

From the time that I graduated high
school, I wanted to go right into interior
design. I was discouraged out of it by my
father and I pursued a business degree

and got an A.A. from Santa Monica
College and then went on to study
psychology at Cal State University,
Northridge. I decided not to pursue that
and went back to UCLA Extension to
study interior design. So design and
architecture have always been a really
large part of who I am. During all
of that time, though, I worked at my
fathers advertising agency in Century
City and I learned a lot about marketing
and advertising from him. Later, I went
on to receive my bachelors [degree] in
religious studies, which I think is one
of the single greatest courses of studies
that anybody could ever take because it
teaches you about history and politics
and infused in that is culture and architecture and humanity. Essentially, it
creates tolerance as a way of life and
it mostly helps with the skill of critical
thinking.
How do you a deal with a situation
where a councilmember that youre
friends with votes against a preservation project?
In all honesty, I respect all the councilmembers, but I find that my true
friendships lie with those who have a
similar perspective and belief system
as I do. This is not to say that Im not
friendly with those that vote against
the way I believe, but I dont find that
we have much in common otherwise.
The notable exception to that is [Mayor
Julian] Gold, who has been wonderfully supportive but yet voted to pass
the revised preservation ordinance, and
I understand why he did it, I dont
fault him for it. I think more than
anybody I blame the Cultural Heritage
Commission. I blame them for not
fighting harder, but I also understand
that their fight was a great one and there
had to be compromise. It doesnt mean I
agree with it, but I still have to get along
with everybody. Not everybody is going
to like me and Im not going to like
everybody and thats just how it goes.
But our City is big on civility and thats
how we conduct ourselves. It doesnt
mean that I dont get angry, but I have
to separate the policy from the person.
What is your number one goal as
the president and founder of Beverly
Hills Heritage?
My number one goal is longevity and
the organic appreciation of the Citys
culture and heritage and lifestyle by
all residents. I hope to put programs in
place in the long run, but these things
take time, and now, more than ever, I
understand the investment and the dedication it takes to affect real change and
Im in it for the long haul.
Learn
more
about
Beverly
Hills
Heritage
by
visiting
www.beverlyhillsheritage.org.
September 24- September 30, 2015 Page 7

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Beverly Hills Weekly, Issue #834, Kimberly Vinokur Reiss

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people & profiles

What inspired you to establish

history I hope to put

events together. Over the last year, we

What do you think

Tell us about your educational background.

father and I pursued a business degree

September 24- September 30, 2015 Page 7

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