UCLA's Connection to the Santa Monica Civic Offers an Opportunity - Wild Thought

Politics in Santa Monica is disproportionately complicated, given that the city's population is only about 92,000. The latest brouhaha concerns selling the Civic Auditorium which has been closed for years due to a need for seismic upgrades. Two proposals to buy it from the City have fallen through amidst controversy. 

The Civic was designed by the well-known LA architect, Welton David Becket (1902-1969). His son, recently interviewed in the Santa Monica Mirror, revealed a connection of the building to UCLA:

Knudsen

“The concrete floor of the Civic was innovative for its time, mounted on hydraulic lifts so that the tilt could be adjusted, creating tiered seating for traditional theatre and flat for exhibitions and athletic events,” notes Becket. “My dad brought on the famous acoustics expert Vern Knudsen to design superior acoustics to attract top-tier talent. Knudsen was also a UCLA physics professor and Chancellor.”* 

It might be noted that so far two offers to buy the Civic, one from a community group and one from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, have fallen through. UCLA has been buying property far from Westwood in downtown LA and Palos Verdes, trying to satisfy the demands of the legislature and governor to expand undergraduate enrollment. If UCLA bought the Civic, it could put student housing in the adjacent lot which might meet the state requirements facing the City to build a quota of affordable housing, the so-called RHNA requirements. Presumably, student housing would be 100% affordable. The auditorium could then be used for university athletic purposes, thanks to Knudsen's innovative adjustable floor, or for cultural events.

Santa Monica is far more accessible to Westwood than is downtown LA or Palos Verdes. Public buses run regularly from Santa Monica to UCLA. In the distant future, there are plans to extend the subway now being built to terminate in Westwood/VA all the way to Santa Monica, the "subway to the sea."

The site is also near Santa Monica Community College which is a source of transfer students and near UCLA Santa Monica hospital.

Just a thought...

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*https://smmirror.com/2023/10/s-m-a-r-t-column-architects-son-reflects-on-civic-auditorium/. On Knudsen, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vern_Oliver_Knudsen.