To the editor: Earlier than encouraging the Getty Middle and Getty Villa to maneuver holdings to the Kenneth Hahn Corridor of Administration in downtown Los Angeles, it might be smart to recollect the fire that hit the Central Library in 1986 (“Fire could have destroyed the Getty’s irreplaceable art. Should the museum move?” March 13). Per the library web site, “400,000 volumes — 20% of the library’s holdings — have been destroyed, with vital water and smoke injury completed to the surviving works.”
Nobody is aware of how the fireplace began, however the consequence was closure of the library for seven years. It is going to take a number of examine to find out simply how fire-safe a construction inbuilt 1960 truly is or could be made to be. As artwork critic Christopher Knight writes, the opportunity of transferring the Getty assortment, and, in my view, the gathering on the Skirball Cultural Middle that abuts the identical wildfire-prone space, ought to be thought of, however that consideration shouldn’t activate the provision of a specific constructing.
Stephanie Scher, Pasadena
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To the editor: I take exception to Knight’s view on a number of counts. First, there isn’t a safer place to accommodate these collections than the place they’re sitting at this time. To rebuild these areas can be prohibitive, even for the Getty Belief. Second, the 2 areas themselves are artistic endeavors and, in my view, are irreplaceable. Lastly, the county corridor web site might be repurposed into homeless and low-income housing for a fraction of the price of a brand new museum and be a greater memorial to the late mayor and county supervisor James Hahn.
Kevin Minihan, Westchester
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To the editor: I like Knight’s concept to relocate the Getty assortment downtown within the Hahn constructing subsequent to Grand Park. That construction is steps away from the Civic Middle Metro cease, which I already use once I go to the Music Middle.
Don Shirley, Sherman Oaks
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To the editor: The commentary on whether or not the Getty’s buildings ought to transfer was a waste of Knight’s lengthy years of expertise and practiced eye for artwork, neither of which have been wanted for that off-the-wall piece of blue-sky hypothesis.
Patrick Frank, Venice
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To the editor: Each museums have unimaginable talents to outlive the fires that scarred our metropolis. The imaginative and prescient of the villa to be above the ocean, as was the unique villa close to Pompeii, can be completely ruined. As a substitute, this critic ought to be lauding the beacons each museums present. One stands bravely for the reestablishment of a group round it. The opposite encourages all of L.A. that such a useful resource exists.
Elaine Sarnoff, Manhattan Seaside
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To the editor: Let’s transfer Los Angeles. As a substitute of getting to cope with wildfires, earthquakes and concrete unrest, transferring our truthful metropolis to a spot the place nothing a lot occurs — Inyo County involves thoughts — would possibly obtain the objective of erasing each final little bit of uncertainty in life and permitting us to by no means once more have to fret that Thracian artifacts are endangered.
Jeff Schultz, Los Angeles
