Much has changed since we spoke with alumna Dalia Mokayed in 2020 about her thesis, Heritage Conservation to Rebuild Cities After Crisis. Yet wars worldwide continue to decimate countries, communities, and cultures. In her thesis, Dalia examined her hometown of Aleppo, Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Years before the fall of Assad in 2024, Dalia shared her invaluable perspective on the effects of war on heritage and identity, and how heritage conservation can help cities and communities ...
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Much has changed since we spoke with alumna Dalia Mokayed in 2020 about her thesis, Heritage Conservation to Rebuild Cities After Crisis. Yet wars worldwide continue to decimate countries, communities, and cultures. In her thesis, Dalia examined her hometown of Aleppo, Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Years before the fall of Assad in 2024, Dalia shared her invaluable perspective on the effects of war on heritage and identity, and how heritage conservation can help cities and communities ...
Much has changed since we spoke with alumna Dalia Mokayed in 2020 about her thesis, Heritage Conservation to Rebuild Cities After Crisis. Yet wars worldwide continue to decimate countries, communities, and cultures. In her thesis, Dalia examined her hometown of Aleppo, Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Years before the fall of Assad in 2024, Dalia shared her invaluable perspective on the effects of war on heritage and identity, and how heritage conservation can help cities and communities ...
"A city is composed of different types of men; similar people cannot bring the city into existence." This quote from Aristotle's Politics opens Gaining a Foothold: Conserving Los Angeles' Queer Eden(dale), the master's thesis of alumnus Rafael Fontes (MHC/MUP '20). With the ongoing erasure of LGBTQ history from federal archives and programs, we're spotlighting our Season One interview with Rafael, whose thesis examined the first efforts to landmark LGBTQ historic sites in the city of Los Ange...
Save As is taking a brief break, but we'll bring you some gems from the archives and launch Season 6 before the end of the year. In the meantime, check out our Instagram (@saveasnextgen) for updates and catch up on previous episodes from our first five seasons! Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!
Of the more than 1,300 local landmarks in the City of Los Angeles, less than three percent—that’s right, three—reference the history or contributions of women. In the Season 5 finale, we hear from some of the people working to change that by amending nominations for existing landmarks (known in L.A. as Historic-Cultural Monuments, or HCMs). Students Mel James, Leslie Madrigal, and Evan McAvenia discuss their research for an advanced documentation class, in which ten students uncovered women’...
As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms modern life, we’re understanding more about the benefits and tradeoffs of its use in generating content. New alum Paul Kim wrote his master’s thesis about how generative AI (genAI) perpetuates false narratives about Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (APIA), and how communities can use genAI to reclaim those narratives. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with Paul about his thesis, Encoding Counter Memories: Artificial Intelligence as...
An Encore episode with a new update! A group of architecture students at the University of Southern California wants to do more than just design buildings. They want to work with communities to “un-design'' spatial injustice and leverage the power of residents in shaping their neighborhoods. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with students Reily Gibson and Kianna Armstrong about L.A.'s Sugar Hill, an important neighborhood cut in half by construction of the I-10 Freeway. A nonpr...
Photographer Sally Mann once said, “Photographs open doors to the past, but also allow a look into the future.” Photography is a key component of the historic documentation process. New graduate Sam Malnati (MHC/MUP ’25) delved into photography’s role in the field for her thesis, Contemporary Vision: Photography's Influence on Perception of Places in the Past. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with Sam about the history of photography and its use in the Historic American ...
In this “Where Are They Now?” episode, we catch up with Elysha Paluszek (MHC ‘10), senior associate, architectural historian, and preservation planner at Architectural Resources Group. She’s been highlighting hidden history since her master’s thesis, The Los Angeles African American Heritage Area: A Proposal for Development. At ARG, she’s worked on award-winning studies revealing how policy and practice shaped the built environment in West Hollywood and Los Angeles. Elysha chats with co-host ...
A month after the disastrous fires in the Los Angeles area, this special episode features a conversation among Save As co-hosts Trudi Sandmeier and Cindy Olnick, and producer Willa Seidenberg. Trudi reflects on the loss of her historic family home, her close-knit neighborhood, and the Will Rogers ranch, an integral part of her and her family’s lives. We discuss the city’s current state of grief and bewilderment, the understandable rush to rebuild along with the need to plan thoughtfully, and ...
In this “Where Are They Now?” episode, we catch up with alum Junyoung Myung (MHC ’15), who followed yet another of many career paths in heritage conservation: research and teaching. His exciting work blends architecture, design, heritage conservation, and technology—from teaching undergrad architects about adaptive reuse, to training AI to identify architectural styles, and much more. He’s also finishing his doctoral dissertation, which explores how generations of Korean immigrants and Korean...
As a young architectural historian in San Francisco, Shayne Watson would take lunchtime walks near her office, pondering how and where the city’s lesbian history took shape. She discovered that one of the earliest lesbian bars once stood right up the street in North Beach, a neighborhood that served as the birthplace of the city’s lesbian community—though you’d never know it just by looking. After earning her USC master’s degree in 2009, Shayne decided to do something about underrecognized LG...
October 31st marks the beginning of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. It's the most important holiday in India. In celebration, we are re-releasing this episode from Season 1. The allure of abundant work and fertile soil drew many to California, and in particular, the rich rural areas of the state. Punjabi workers came in small numbers to Yuba City in the early 1900s, but after Indian independence in 1947 when Punjab was split in two, that trickle became a steady stream. Now this ...
Before Death Valley became a desert tourism mecca, it was a mining hot spot. The homelands of the Timbisha Shoshone tribe were opened to industry during the California Gold Rush. In this “Where Are They Now?” episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with alumna Mary Ringhoff about her thesis on the early-twentieth-century mining town of Ryan, an unusually well-preserved site just outside the boundaries of Death Valley National Park. The company town housed workers at the Pacific Coast Borax C...
One of the signs memorializing the 1955 murder of Emmett Till weighs nearly 500 pounds and is designed to absorb a rifle round. It’s the fourth version of the sign, the others having been vandalized and riddled with bullet holes. How can communities recognize and preserve vulnerable Black heritage sites without placing them more at risk? New alumna Kira Williams shares her views with co-host Cindy Olnick on a visit to L.A.’s St. Elmo Village, a historic site of art and healing. They explore t...
Why do urban rivers look like they do? What makes one river key to a city’s identity and another one largely unknowable? We wrap up Season Four with a trip to the banks of the Los Angeles River, where Cindy Olnick chats with new dual-degree alum Leslie Dinkin about her award-winning master’s thesis, Heritage in Practice: A Study of Two Urban Rivers. Leslie wanted to know what happened to set the Los Angeles and San Antonio Rivers on such different courses in the development of their respect...
Drag performances have long been a draw for audiences in L.A., though often held “underground” because of threats of persecution. In addition to its entertainment history, drag has had a role in affirming and protecting gender identity. Architect and recent graduate Jesús (Chuy) Barba Bonilla researched this history for his master’s thesis, Drag Culture of Los Angeles: Intangible Heritage through Ephemeral Places. In this episode, Willa Seidenberg chats with Chuy about how he chose this...
Tools for documenting historic buildings evolve constantly, but professional 3D scanners remain out of reach for most of us. Alumna Ye Hong, our first dual-degree student in Heritage Conservation and Building Science, sees a path to more equitable heritage conservation in the nearly ubiquitous smartphone. For her thesis, she tested the potential and limitations of mobile apps to scan Reunion House, designed by Richard and Dion Neutra. In this episode, co-host Trudi Sandmeier discusses this ex...
Dedicated students at the University of Southern California have pulled out the laser scanners and measuring tapes to document the Wilfandel Clubhouse in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Wilfandel Club, the oldest Black women’s club in Los Angeles, was founded in 1945 by Della Williams (wife of architect Paul R. Williams) and Fannie Williams as a safe place for social, civic, and community events. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg visits the clubhouse to see the studen...
New alumna (and Save As producer) Willa Seidenberg has enjoyed the mineral-water spas of Desert Hot Springs for decades. In the 1950s, the Coachella Valley town became a destination for middle- and working-class families who frequented the simple spa motels, or "spa-tels." Willa and co-host Cindy Olnick took a road trip to Desert Hot Springs to see the remaining spa-tels and talk about Willa's thesis, Spa City: The Midcentury Spa-Tels of Desert Hot Springs. You’ll hear about Willa's research ...
A San Francisco native, alumna Emi Takahara always wondered why so many locals dismiss the historic Fisherman’s Wharf as a tourist trap. Sure, it has overpriced food, but it also has a culinary history that might surprise you—as well as longtime businesses trying to weather the changing times. In this episode, Emi talks with producer Willa Seidenberg about her thesis, The Restaurant That Started It All: The Hidden Heritage of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, how Italian immigrants shaped Fi...
Much has changed since we spoke with alumna Dalia Mokayed in 2020 about her thesis, Heritage Conservation to Rebuild Cities After Crisis. Yet wars worldwide continue to decimate countries, communities, and cultures. In her thesis, Dalia examined her hometown of Aleppo, Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Years before the fall of Assad in 2024, Dalia shared her invaluable perspective on the effects of war on heritage and identity, and how heritage conservation can help cities and communities ...
