WRITTEN
PUBLIC
COMMENT
CITY COUNCIL
MEETING
JULY 18, 2023
July 11, 2023
TO: La Quinta City Council Members
RE: Request to reactivate the La Quinta City Arts Commission Dear Council Members:
Thank you for interviewing me June 30th for the Community Resources Commission.
Listening to the other interviewees, I was impressed with their credentials and struck with how obviously, I did not belong on a commission concerned with health and wellness, policing, trails, and more. Subsequently, I’m grateful for the interview and encouraged to revive our Arts Commission.
The City of La Quinta is known nationally as an arts community thanks to the historical presence and branding of the La Quinta art show. The city-owned public art collection and many artists in the area involved in the traditional annual art studio visits support and reaffirm the emphasis on the arts.
Guiding the processes and goals of the city arts community needs to be the singular focus of arts professionals on an Arts Commission.
I encourage members of the La Quinta City Council to re-instate the city Arts Commission. Please let me know how I can assist.
Sincerely,
Cristina Acosta
Cristina Acosta Art & Design llc
53880 Avenida Mendoza
La Quinta, CA 92253
[email protected] 541-389-5711 CristinaAcosta.com CITY COUNCIL MEETING JULY 18, 2023 - WRITTEN COMMENTS BY RESIDENT CRISTINA ACOSTA MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA - LETTER TO COUNCIL RE: LA QUINTA ART COMMISSION 1 From: Kay Wolff <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2023 3:56 PM
To: Monika Radeva
Subject: LETTER TO COUNCIL
** EXTERNAL: This message originated outside of the City of La Quinta. Please use proper judgement and caution when opening attachments, clicking links or responding to requests for information. ** Hi, Monika. How have you been? This is a letter to Council regarding Business Item #1 tomorrow. Could you please forward it to the members? I am writing to support the proposed Master Plan for the expansion of the La Quinta Museum. Every penny spent on that facility will be rewarded in visitor interest and community pride.
However, Phase 3 refers to the renovation or demolition of the “lumberyard”. (I cringe when I hear “lumberyard” as many remember it as the construction office for the Desert Club and casitas. It was much more than a lumberyard.) The Construction Office was the hub of activity in the late 1930s, during the original development of the Desert Club and the whole Cove. Its walls hold many stories that need to be remembered as a part of LQ history.
The Construction Office building has been through many iterations: post office, several real estate businesses, and veterinary hospital.
The second story apartment was home to the original developer, Guy Maltby and the La Quinta Milling and Lumber Company, and later to the construction manager of the Desert Club and its casitas, Miles Reed Scott. (Who knows who else lived there? Even my husband, Chris English, lived there for a year or two in the 1970s.) The Construction Office is central to La Quinta history, from the Cahuilla band of Native Americans. When Katherine Saubel and her brother Alvino Silva attended an historical round table here in the 1990s, Alvino related how his ancestors had “run mustangs in the Cove” and planted fig trees. This was the source of an orchard that was uncovered during construction of the Desert Club pool. According to Julie Scott Hirsch, the daughter of the construction manager, “Everyone who heard about it had to come and see for themselves because they could not believe it!” CITY COUNCIL MEETING JULY 18, 2023 - WRITTEN COMMENTS BY RESIDENT KAY WOLFF BUSINESS SESSION ITEM NO. 1 - COMMENTS ON THE PROPOSED MASTER PLAN FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE LQ MUSEUM 2 Julie also relates how the Scott apartment, almost the only dwelling in the Cove at the time, attracted many interesting visitors. Located on a popular biking route used by La Quinta Hotel guests, bikers would stop by and chat. “Ronald Colman and his wife, Benita Hume were frequent passers-by and struck up an acquaintance with my mother.”
Julie tells many stories about one famous resident, actor John Barrymore, who was sent to LQ to recuperate from alcoholism in the casita behind the Construction Office.
He was “not allowed car keys or money, and was watched all the time.” Barrymore’s phone line was even tapped into the Scotts’ line so they could listen in on his personal calls.
These anecdotes might be lost if the Construction Office were demolished. Even if the structure were only minimally used, it would still be a point of interest to Museum goers, students and passers-by.
The picturesque hexagonal real estate office was built for sales purposes, and housed the original Keiner real estate group on through Frances Hack. These two buildings are the bookends of the Museum. Both are charming examples of old La Quinta history. A history that unites the whole city for future generations.
We have a Desert Club Drive and will soon have a Desert Club restaurant. We have no Desert Club. But we do have one of its precursors. With its charming Old California architecture and many legends, let’s hang on to what we have. Future La Quintans will thank you.
Sent from Mail for Windows
CITY COUNCIL MEETING JULY 18, 2023 - WRITTEN COMMENTS BY RESIDENT KAY WOLFF BUSINESS SESSION ITEM NO. 1 - COMMENTS ON THE PROPOSED MASTER PLAN FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE LQ MUSEUM