MYhistoricLA: Historic Resource Identification Form

As part of SurveyLA, we have developed MYhistoricLA an online historic resources identification form to solicit your help in identifying places that are important in your community, but have not been designated City historic landmarks. Begin to think broadly about the history of your community and tell us more about it through MYhistoricLA. While professional historic preservation consultants will be likely to identify buildings and areas with visible architectural significance, they are less likely to identify the more modest buildings or lesser-known places that might have shaped your community.  You can also download a printable form in PDF format [415.24 KB] here.

What is a Historic Resource?

Resources can include individual houses, buildings, sites, structures, objects, cultural landscapes and natural features as well as areas and historic districts (groupings of resources). These places may reflect a broad range of themes significant in the city’s history such as architecture, city planning, landscape design, ethnic heritage, residential development, politics, industry, transportation, commerce, entertainment and others. Examples of individual historic resources include theaters, religious buildings, social halls, canals and bridges while examples of historic districts, include residential neighborhoods, commercial centers, industrial complexes and college campuses. The citywide survey will consider all properties dating from about 1865 to 1980.

How will this information be used?

The public responses through MYhistoricLA will provide valuable background information for the survey teams, which will later use this material to conduct formal assessments of places throughout Los Angeles to determine their significance according to local, State and Federal criteria for evaluation.

Please note: the properties identified through MYhistoricLA will not be officially designated as "historic," nor will they be automatically considered for historic designation. To obtain official local historic designation for a site, you may wish to submit a formal nomination for City Historic-Cultural Monument status.

To give Los Angeles' communities a window into this broad-based outreach process, the SurveyLA team intends to post a sampling of the responses on this web site in the coming months.

How should I decide what to identify?

In considering which resources(s) to identify, think about the following questions:

• What are the neighborhoods, commercial areas, and landscapes that have distinctive architectural, design or cultural characteristics, or reflect important aspects of social history or community planning and development? What are the qualities of these places that make them important?
• What areas, sites, or buildings served as key gathering places or focal points of your community over the years?
• Which places were associated with the most important individuals, groups or organizations that shaped your community’s history?
• Which buildings, structures and districts may have been associated with important architects, builders, designers, developers, or engineers whose work helped define the character of your area?
• Which places shaped social movements and the cultural evolution of your community?
• Which places are unique to your community and which reflect larger trends in the development history of Los Angeles?
• Which places provide a key window into understanding the demographic changes that your community experienced over the years?

Additional Information

For additional information please contact:

Janet Hansen, Deputy Manager
Office of Historic Resources
Janet.hansen@lacity.org
(213) 978-1191